


I Need Safe

by ceceartistofdeath



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Abuse, Cutting, Eren Sucks at eating, Everyone Is Gay, Good luck!, Jean is a good guy., Jean is cool, M/M, My First Fanfic, Self Harm, Sexy Time, When it gets to that point I think Eren will be Uke, carlas dead even tho thats obvious, emo eren, eren x levi - Freeform, eren/levi - Freeform, grishas a dickhead, i stole that last tag, like EXTREAMELY slow, lol, really slow build, so slow that it makes sloths look like drag racers, this isnt very good writing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 16:34:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12062874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ceceartistofdeath/pseuds/ceceartistofdeath
Summary: Erens mom was murdered when he was 14 by men who took him and his sister Mikasa to child auction rings. After Eren and Mikasa are seperated, he spends two years of his life being raped, beaten,  and attempted to be killed. he finally runs away and gets a chance at freedom and meets Levi, who shows Eren how to trust and love again.Be warned this is my first fanfic, so constructive critiszm is always welcome.(ignore my spelling lol) good luck reading this weird thing. have fun!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ....good luck.

It’s too dark to see. I’ve been trying to run with this horrid limp with each step shooting excruciating pain up my leg. But I have to keep running. With every stride I got farther away from him.

_I know he’ll notice soon. But I have to keep going. even if I had changed my mind there’s no way in hell he would stop. No! I don’t want to go back, I can’t_ '. Caught up in my thoughts I lost my footing and stumbled, slamming by face into the road. _Get up! Run before he catches you!_ I had no choice. This was life and death.

I hear the faint sound of a car engine in the distance and ducked into some bushes. It wasn’t a very busy road so any car could be his. The car passed and I waited a moment before continuing my getaway.

Getting up, I begin to run again. I haven’t eaten anything in days, so I’m only fueled by fear and adrenaline. the bruises on my back and hips throbbed with every pound of my speeding pulse. Fallen leaves crunch under my steps. I can hear and feel myself growing more and more tired. Slowing I begin to see the lights over the hill. It’s a small city, like a miniature version of New York, but it’s beautiful.

_Finally I’ve gotten away. Even if I was without a home, even if I have to beg for food, at least there was a chance I could get some_.

Passing by a clothes shop I looked at my reflection in the window. _I look pretty bad_. My hair is messed up, I had on an old, raggedy, T-shirt that was about four sizes too big. Old jeans that were long and pooled around my feet, but still fit around my slender, girly, body. My shoes were two sizes too small and squished my feet uncomfortably. And an old, slightly over sized black hoodie.

_Damn it_.  
_I had only managed to grab fifty dollars from his stash before I fled. I can’t afford to waste money on measly things like clothes._  First things first. I needed to eat.  
There seems to be an open McDonalds so here I go.

_It’s about ten at night, thank god they aren’t closed yet._  After waiting in a small line I finally got up front and tried to order. This was my first time ever doing this, even if I am sixteen.

 

“Umm… may I please um, h-have a umm mcdouble cheeseburger a-and a s-small fry.”

 

“Alright! Your order will be right up! May I have your name?”

 

“Um.. m-my name is E-Eren….”

 

I’m surprised and relived she could even understand me. Even though she gave me a weird look. Now that I think about it, I notice all kinds of people giving me weird looks and disapproving stares. I start to shrink into myself. Knowing I looked like hell.

“Order for Eren!”

I walk awkwardly up to the counter, paying, and grab my trey.

“T-thank you.”

I return to my table, able to smell the food. I cant wait to finally taste something other scraps of old moldy meat. This wasn’t the healthiest of choices, but it was the cheapest and right now that’s all that mattered. Unwrapping and eagerly taking a bite out of my burger, I cant stop thinking of how delicious this is. I soon finished half and was full, that’s more than I have eaten all month. Satisfied with my food, it was time to find a place to sleep.

A hotel will be much too expensive so I need to find a spot hidden enough for me to get a few hours of sleep. After wandering awhile, I come across a small, shallow, alleyway with a large dumpster that I can sleep behind.  
Clearing a small spot on the rough concrete ground, I pulled my hood above my head and drifted off to, for what felt like the first in my lifetime, a happy peaceful sleep.

 

 

 

========================================

 

_“He’s gotta be around here somewhere!”_

 

My eyes flung open. It had only been about twenty minutes since I fell asleep. How did he already find me? I sat up against the dumpster covering my mouth trying to make myself as small as possible.

 

_“ I’m gonna check in here.”_

 

Fuck! No! I cant let him find me. I try to shrink even more as I see the glow of a flashlight snap on. The footsteps continue to grow louder as he progresses closer and closer towards my location.  
I hold my breath in anticipation. If I stay still and don’t move he wont see me. That’s right, stay still.

 

And like that, the beam of a flashlight lands on my face.


	2. who....?

“No! Get off me!” I yelled as Grisha and his friend Luis grabbed my wrists, dragging me. I’m pulling hard, but because that doesn’t seem to be working I lurched my head forward and took a huge bite into his hand, breaking the skin the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. That isn’t going stop me. I bit harder into his nerves, hoping with all my might he would let go.

“Ah! You little piece of shit!" Grisha’s hand released only to be replaced with a swift, hard, kick to the head. I could’ve blocked it but Luis had grabbed my arms from behind. Then landed more punches and more kicks. No one else was around. I tried my best to get away. I was kicking, pulling, jerking, and thrashing all around.

Burning tears came to my eyes as I screamed for help.

 

_No one will come. You’re caught and there’s nothing you can do about it. Give up._

_No! Push, pull, punch! You can do it! Run!_

The voices in my head growing loud in my mind. My hopes of ever escaping this nightmare starting to disintegrate. My vision going blurry, filling with black spots.  
This was it. I cant get away. There’s nothing I can do.

 

“Argh!”

The punches stopped. Vision slowly starting to return, I tried to focus on what happened. I look to see a dark figure delivering a well executed kick to Grisha’s stomach. He doubled over, holding his stomach in his arms. The other man kneed him hard in the face and he dropped, holding his face in his hands.

Luis quickly let go of me and ran towards the other man throwing a punch with his full body weight.  
“The hell do ya think you are! This isn’t your fight!”

The stranger easily dodged it and landed a powerful punch to his stomach. Luis passed out right after.  
I lay there on the cold hard ground holding my stomach. The throbs not stopping The figure turned towards me.

_Shit!_ I thought as I felt I was on the edge about to pass out. _He’s going to take me! I have to run!_

I attempt standing, holding my stomach as everything pounded and throbbed. Tumbling over I lean against the wall trying to ready my self to run, but instead end up tripping over myself and begin to fall.

I find myself caught by the stranger. Brain not functioning fast enough to panic, he removes his hood to reveal dark, raven, hair with pale skin that seemed to glow under the moonlight. I could only stare at him, his face calm and looking back at me were steely grey eyes, with, what seemed to be….a hint of worry?

 

“Hey kid. You okay?”

 

Head still throbbing along with my whole body, I couldn’t move. I only lay there. Feeling my consciousness slip away as my line of sight darkened. Hearing his voice somewhere in the distance.

 

“Hey! Wake up!”


	3. where am i?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> that chapters have been short, but soon ill make them longer, and im sorry with my update times i dont really have a set scedule yet. but more will be coming! have fun!

I blink my eyes open with a flutter, the light blinding me. Slowly, my vision started to reappear. I was in a room that was clean and nice, with a window and everything.

 

“You’re awake.”

 

I shot straight up on the bed I was on in surprise, then went right back down with one huge throb coming from my whole body.

 

“Bet that hurt, didn’t it.”

 

I look at where the voice was coming from and all of the memories from last night came back and fear struck me like a bolder aimed at my head. He was sitting in a wooden chair near my bed, like he had been waiting for me to wake up.

_Shit! I was caught again! Dammit Dammit Dammit! And there was no way in hell I could even think about outrunning this one._

_That’s it. Just give up. This was the life you will have to live._  With every painful word my head throbbed. I pressed my hand to my forehead and that hurt even more.

 

“Don’t do that. You were badly injured yesterday, I had my doctor friend patch you up.”

 

I stayed silent.

 

“What’s your name?” He says it flatly with no change in facial expression.

I don’t want to upset him or make him angry, so i oblige and manage to squeak out an answer out of my overly dry mouth. “..E-Eren…”

 

“Well Eren, those guys beat you up pretty bad, seemed the blonde one stuck a knife in your hip. It should take at least a week to recover, but you seem to be recovering pretty quickly.”

 

“T…thank y-you..” It only came out as a strained whisper, but I tried to be as nice as possible. Hopefully he might be a little nicer back.

 

“I saw them kicking and landing punches on your face, but not on your body. And you have bruises everywhere that must have been there long before that.”

His face is still expressionless, but his eyes…..look slightly concerned. I’m sort of confused at this point, not sure weather to be grateful or afraid.

I stay silent and avoided eye contact. I could feel tears stinging at the back of my head. I don’t want to say something wrong and have him lash out. And if he was here to help, I’m not sure if I want him to know about me.

 

“Do you think I’m going to hurt you Eren?”

 

I froze at the question. it caught me off guard for sure. Is he really that straight forward? Seems my reaction gave him his answer as he looked away and closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

 

“ I’m beginning to get a vague idea of who those people were and why you were running. I’m not going to try and hurt you, so please stop being so tense.”

 

Tears were now running down my cheeks, silently. The more I looked into his eyes, the more I wanted to trust them. I felt scared. Scared that those concerned steely grey eyes, would turn into anger, and fury.  
My body started to tremble. His eyes widened slightly in surprise.

 

“Eren!”

 

My vision yet again, started to fade, and the last thing I saw, were steely grey eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a tad bit graphic so warnings are: rape, abuse, my bad storytelling. have fun!

_“So how much do you think he’ll go for? With that face and slender body we can make at least five thousand.”_

**_These chains are itchy. Where am I? Where’s mom!? I’m scared. Its dark. Who are these men?_ **   
_I keep trying to scratch under the shackles around my wrist. I see a door across the room. If I can just run past them…_

_“Well its too bad the mom put up a fight we could have gotten her but you decided to stab her, but the little sister might fetch the best price around.”_

_My blood ran cold at those words. **M…moms dead, and Mikasa! She’s here!?**_   
_Looking beside me I see a slightly smaller body sprawled on the floor._

  
_“Mikasa!”_

  
_I manage to crawl over to her, her hands tied up with rope, if I could just…._

_“Hey brat! Keep it dow-, hey! What do you think your doing!”_

_A hard kick landed across my face as I hit my back against the wall with a large thud._

_“ Stupid brat. Seems you need to be taught a lesson.”_

_He grabs my chains and drags me to another room off to the side. I struggle, not knowing what to expect. He slams me on a bed and hooks my chains to the wall above my head._

_I kick trying to get him from on top of me, he takes off my worn jeans all too easily. His eyes boring into me full of lust. I feel so trapped. Tears welling as I shut my eyes and try to get him away. Pain shoots through me as I try to ignore the grunts and moans from the other man as he forcefully thrust into me. The feeling of being split in half over and over again ripped through me. His hands forcefully grabbed onto my hips to slam into me harder._

_“STOP! STOP!-“_

 

 

“NO, STOP!”

I shoot up out of my bed gasping for air but my lungs no longer remembering how to expand. Tears falling continuously as I hunch over trying to calm myself.

 _Count backwards from ten. Backwards from ten. Come on, 10…9…8...10...7...8 its not working! Somebody please help me!_  I scrunch my eyes closed trying to get in air desperately, but no matter how many times I try to expand my lungs they keep constricting.

 Suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder, the contact so light almost thought i was imagining it. I heard a deep, smooth voice in front of me. Steely eyes focused on me as he sat in front of me. 

“Hey! Kid! Its ok, just breathe, breathe with me, inhale, exhale, come on now.”

 

I look at him trying to help me, exaggerating his own breaths as an example. I try my hardest to focus and copy his actions. as a few minutes pass my breathing starts to work again slowly as he helps me.  
_I can do this, he’s showing me how to do it….inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…_

 

“That’s right now, slowly. You looked like you were having a pretty excitable dream there, but I didn’t think you would wake up like this. Care to tell what happened?”

 

“ I-I d-don’t know… I c-can’t…”

 

Tears were still falling and I was still clutching at my chest. He looked like he was going to ask again but thought better of it.

 

 

**Levi's P.O.V.**

That didn’t sound like some normal nightmare. He was starting to cry and mumble in his sleep. That man might’ve been his dad…not a very good one obviously. He looks like he could eat something, I’ll go get him some soup.

 

 

**Eren**

I see him leaving and without thinking, I reach out and grab his sleeve.

 

“P…please, d-don’t leave m-me.”

  _Please, I don't want to be left alone. Not after that dream please._

He sits back down in the chair beside my bed. He looks at me.  
“Well you told me your name so I guess I should tell you mine. Its Levi. Are you hungry?”

 

“Um, n-no..” That burger from yesterday wasn’t really agreeing either. I should’ve known better than to already eat so much. My stomach starts to lurch at the thought of food, I put my hand over my mouth and locate the door to the bathroom. Without thinking, I get up and run into the bathroom. My frail body barely making it to the toilet before loosing my food from yesterday.

 

** Levi **

‘what the hell?’ he got up and ran to the bathroom, when I found him he only had half a burger. Can he not digest it?

 

 

**Eren**

I wiped my mouth and flushed the toilet. Standing up I got really dizzy, I half fall over and lean against the wall.

 

“ Be careful. Here, drink some of this.” He hands me a small measuring cup full of pink liquid.

 

“What’s this?” I manage to croak out of my burning throat. I take the cup from him and look into it. It smells really weird.

 

“Oi, you don’t even know what Pepto bismuth is?”

I must look really confused.

“ Tch, just drink it. It will help your stomach feel better.”

I decide to trust him and throw it all back. Gagging at the awful taste.

“ Heh, you’re obviously not used to taking medicine. Just how the hell are you alive?”

The question sends tears to my eyes again. I can feel my chest tighten as by brain goes through horrible memories.

 

_I don't know how I'm alive. I don't even know why I'm alive. Hell, I probably should've just thrown myself in front of a car while I had the chance. I ended up captured again anyways, so what's the point. Even if he does seem nicer than all the others so far, I'm sure that'll only last for so long. I don't know why I bother going on. I failed to protect Mikasa. I'm just a used toy for anyone who passes by. I don't know, I failed to protect Mom, I'm causing this man trouble. I really, I really just, just I don't know, I really don't..._

 

“I-…I-I d-don’t know…”

 

I’m hunched over clutching at my chest. _I just don’t know how I’m still alive. Or even why. Why am I still living? I don’t deserve to live. Why am I even here? I’m causing this generous man more trouble then he should have. He probably just thinks of me as some filthy brat anyways..._

 

**Levi**

As soon as I ask the question the kid starts falling into another panic attack. _What?_ soon after, he works out the words: I don’t know? _What the hell? Just what the fuck kind of parents did this kid have?_  
I go over and wrap one of my arms around him and try my hardest to work him through his panic attack.

  
” It’s ok just breathe, I’m sorry, come on. Inhale, exhale.”

 

 

**Eren**

I feel his arm go around me pulling me out of my thoughts. Him again, showing big breaths. I slowly try taking deep breaths following his example. After repeating the same routine from a couple of minutes ago, I finally start to calm down a bit.

 

“T-thank y-you….”

 

“ It’s ok, just breathe. Come on lets get you back to bed.”

Without any warning, he picks me up bridal style and carries me out of the bathroom.  
He takes me to the bed I woke up on and lays me back down, covering me up in warm blankets.

 

“I’ve made some soup for lunch earlier, I’m going to go  
get you a bowl.”

I don’t think I can eat anything, I'll just end up throwing it all back up again.

 

“I-it’s ok, I’m really not hungry.”

 

“Bullshit. You need to eat something or your not going to feel better.” And with that he walks off into the kitchen.

 

A few minutes later he reappears with a bowl of soup and a spoon. He holds it out to be with an un-budging look on.

 

“You have to at least try.”

 

Not wanting to upset him, I timidly take the bowl from him and pick up the spoon. I don’t really take any bites I just sort of slowly stir the contents around.

“Eat.”

I look up at his cold face, and I concede. Taking small sips out of the spoon, I still don’t have a good feeling about this. After a few sips, I my stomach starts to feel bubbly again. Yet again my hand flies up to my mouth I place the bowl on the nightstand and yet again, run to the bathroom the emptying the contents of my stomach another time.

 

“Jeez kid, what? Are you not used to food?” He’s standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.  
After wiping my mouth and flushing the toilet, I manage a reply.  
”Yeah, something like that.”

 

 

**Levi**

I said that as a joke, but was that reply real? What in the actual fuck? Did that fucking dipshit of a dad not even feed him?

“ Jesus Christ kid, how about you just sleep for a while. Come on.”

 

** Eren **

The thought of sleep puts me off a little, with all the nightmares that come as a package deal. Well I guess its gotta happen eventually. I get up and slowly stumble my way to the other room. He stops me in the doorway and picks me up.

 

“You’re clearly only barely capable of standing, so I’m obviously not going to let you try and walk your way.”

 

With that he carries me into the other room and sets me on back on the bed. He covers me in blankets and starts to walk out of the room, turning off the lights as he leaves.

 

“Sweet dreams.”

 

After that I start to dose off into a deep, dark sleep.


	5. sleep?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! excuse my cringy writing and enjoy. also i've decided i'll be posting on wednesdays, i have school so i this should give me plenty of time to get chapters done. i dont pre-write the whole story before posting like some authors here do, but i'll try to keep my deadline! Anyways, enough of me rambling! Hurry up and read the story!!

Looking in the door to check on the kid, I go into the room to get a closer view.

He’s quite pale, yet he’s tan at the same time, however the fuck that works. But one thing that stood out all day, are the scars on his skin. He’s wearing an old pair of my sweatpants that hung from his hips, but that’s about it.

 

He had some bruises on his chest, hips and waist. Hand marks on his neck, waist, and wrists. Those were obviously from that piece of shit dad, even though I’m still wondering about the hand marks on his waist? But he had silvery white lines and scars littered across his skin. Red marks trailing down his wrists, and they were deep. Just looking at this you can tell he hasn’t been in a very good place. His cheeks are kind of hollow, you can almost see his god damn ribcage. Just seeing this fills me with a disgusting feeling.

 

I crouch down and look closely at his face.   
“What was so bad that made you do this to yourself?” almost as if to answer my question, with a pained expression, he starts to talk in his sleep as tears start falling.

 

“N-n-no….please, I-I’ll be g-good! P-Please! 

 

 

"NO! STOP!”

 

“Get in the car!”  
I’m thrown into the trunk of a car with my hands shackled together and duck tape across my mouth. With a crack my head hits the interior and starts to slowly bleed. The trunk closes and I’m left I’m left in the dark.

Soon after the car is started up we start to move. I start to hit the trunk door with my chains, kick the inner wall, scream through the tape, anything to get the attention of a passerby.   
Soon after the car stops and I hear footsteps going around the car, coming closer.  
The trunk door pops open and there, is standing an angry man looking down on me in disgust.

 

“You fucking dare to make any more noise!” 

 

I shake my head frantically trying to not upset him more and he grabs me up by my shirt collar and holds me up real close to his face.

 

“Oh, you’ll pay for that, boy.”

 

Then I’m slammed down on the rock hard gravel. Taking my chains, he drags me across the gravel through a field and up a few wooden steps. He takes me inside this small house and slams me against the wall, holding me up by my throat. He rips the duck tape off my mouth with a huge sting. He lets me fall down the wall to the floor and drags me through the house, by my chains into another bedroom. He throws me on the bed.

“N-no! p-please! Don’t hurt me! I’m sorry! Please! I-I’ll be good!

Despite my protests, the man progresses onto the bed and starts to undo my pants.

 

“NO! PLEASE!! STOP!!”

Just then, I wake up. Grabbing at my chest. I cant breathe. I-I…. cant…breathe!!! Tears falling down my face, eyes wide in fear.

 

“Shhh, its ok, just breathe, come on, you can do it, I know you can, ready? Inhale, exhale. Again now, come on. Inhale, exhale… that’s right. Slow, steady breaths. Good job, keep going.”

 

My breath starts to slow down and my heartbeat calming itself as he helps me through my panic attack. Just focusing, on those steely grey eyes.

His arms envelope me and hold me tightly. I can feel his warmth. Its so comforting. He pulled back wiping the tears from my face.

“It’s ok. It was only a dream, you’re safe now.”

I look into his eyes with more tears falling. It feels like forever since anyone ever cared enough about him to comfort him. ”T…t-thank you” I manage to weakly stutter looking down. Its embarrassing having an attack in front of somebody else. 

“I-I’m ok now… you don’t need to stay here.”

 

 

After saying that he weakly plastered on a fake smile, but it going no farther than his lips. I hugged him close to my chest.

“I know I don’t 'have' to stay, but that’s not going to stop me.”

I could hear him start to quietly sob into my chest. I shift getting up and laying on the bed next to the brunette and hold him. With little strength he wrapped his arms around me and quietly cries. I hold him close and start to whisper into his ear.

“It’ll be ok. I’ve got you. You’re safe, I wont let anything hurt you.”

After about ten minutes the boy fell asleep in my arms. Finally at a peaceful sleep.


	6. Smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Happy HUMMPP DAYYYY! *MadeEveryoneCringeToDeath*  
> i hope you guys had a good week! i was sick for like 3days straight, and slept my way through all the pain but i FINALLY got this chapter finished and i really like it and i hope you do too!!!!!

I woke up early in the morning. My eyes soon adjusting to the morning sun. I look down to see a peacefully sleeping Eren, arms wrapped around me with his chocolate brown hair shining softly in the light.  
‘He really is very beautiful. I wonder what had gone on in his life for it to result in something like this.’ 

I start to move out of the bed being careful as to not make the boy stir, when his grip around me tightened. ‘Hm? Why does he cling onto me like this when he’s asleep? Even when I was carrying him from that alley, he was holding on like I was a giant roller coaster.’  
I move his arms from around me and use a pillow as a replacement. He rejected it and curled up hugging his knees to his chest. Still sleeping.

 

I make my way to the kitchen to whip up breakfast for me and the boy. I get two bowls out and fill them about halfway with vanilla yogurt, I pulled out some blueberries and raspberries and add them to both of our bowls.  
‘That should do it. It shouldn’t be too hard for him to eat.’ I get out a pair of spoons and head off back towards the bedroom.

 

Setting the bowls down on the bedside table, I sit on the side of the bed and attempt to wake the boy.

“Hey brat,”  
I go to put a hand on his shoulder and his eyes instantly snap open, wide in fear.  
“Hey, It’s just me. You’re safe. It’s ok.”  
He relaxes slightly and tries to push himself up, wincing in pain at the action. 

“Tch, take it easy brat.” 

‘I don’t want him to hurt himself more than he already is’ .I sit him up against the headboard. “Here, eat.” I say holding out his bowl. “It will be easier on your stomach.” He timidly accepts the bowl and looks up at me with pleading eyes.

 

“D-do I have to?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Instead of arguing he scoops up a small bite on his spoon and eats it.

 

”I-it’s good. Thank you.” 

 

“Anytime.”

We continue to eat for about five minutes until he speaks.

“I-it’s very good, but I don’t think I can eat anymore. S-sorry..”

He looked down in his lap as he spoke, avoiding meeting my eyes. He had only eaten a total of about five bites. I hold his chin up and get him to look at me.

 

“Don’t apologize. You tried and that makes me very happy.” 

 

His already big eyes widen in surprise then looks down at his lap again. He has the most breathtaking eyes I’ve ever seen.  
They’re big with infinite shades of green, with gleams, glimmers, sparkles, and specks of blue, amber, and gold. It was like I was staring straight into the ocean. It was certainly beautiful.  
‘I wonder what had happened in his life was so bad that he learned to hide them all the time.’  
I take his bowl and set it back on the nightstand.

 

“So how do you fe-“ I was cut off by a loud knocking coming from the front door then it opened and slammed shut. I move up and out of the room quickly to either greet or stab the intruder. 

 

“LEVIIIIII!!!”

 

Hearing who it was I relax and make my way out of the hallway. In the living room stood a tall woman with dark brown hair tied neatly up in a ponytail. She was basically jumping around like an overly excitable Chihuahua.

“Hanji, keep it down. Its seven in the morning for christ sakes woman.”

 

“Where is the boy!? Did he wake up yet!? Is he feeling better!? I wanna see him! Is he ok!?”

Knowing Hanji a long time I’m able to answer her questions.

 

“In the spare bedroom. He woke up yesterday, and is awake now. And I was just about to ask him about his wounds before you stormed in here shitty glasses. You can come in but stay behind me and don’t do anything unless I say you can.”

 

Her eyes lit up with wonder wanting to see the beat up brunette so badly.  
We walked down the hall to the room.  
‘damn, I have to make sure I can introduce her right to prevent anymore panic attacks.’ When we arrive I signal for her to wait outside the door. She obliged with a grin that reached ear to ear.

Eren looked up at us with an expression slightly worried, realizing that there was another person. I looked him in the eyes to make sure I had his attention.

 

“Eren, this is Hanji. She’s the doctor friend I told you about who stitched you up.” I sat on the chair beside the bed and continued. “Would you feel comfortable meeting her?”

He nodded slightly and turned his head to look at Hanji. She looked over at me and I signaled it was ok for her to come in. ‘Don’t fuck up.’ She moved into the door a little closer to the bed spouting questions.

“So I assume your name is Eren? Well Eren, Its nice to meet you! How are you feeling? And how about that stab wound? Has it been healing properly?” Saying all this with a huge grin, she moved a little closer to the bed.

 

The boy grabbed onto the sleeve of my shirt having on, he flashed a weak, obviously fake smile at her.

 

“I-I’m fine, thank you.”

 

Her eyes lit up even more. She was now grinning even wider, if that was possible.

“Ah, that’s nice. Say Eren, do you mind if I checked your injuries?”

 

His grip in my sleeve tightened. He looked worried, but still held up that weak smile.

 

“S-Sure, I guess…”

 

“Ok.”

 

Getting up, she went to the living room to retrieve the doctors kit she kept here. She then cautiously moved closer. She took the covers off him and made sure he sat up. She started unwrapping bandages until his wounds were fully exposed. All the cuts and the stab were red and bruised, but looked to be healing very nicely. She then took a wet cloth and went over all the wounds, cleaning them. When she was finished she redressed them and pulled out a small stopwatch.

“Eren, do you mind if I take your pulse?”

 

The small brunette looked quite confused at this question. He gave her a quizzical look.

 

 

“How do you do that?”

 

‘Are you kidding me? He doesn’t even know how to take a pulse?’

Hanji paused looking surprised a moment but quickly returning her blinding smile towards the boy.  
“Here, you do this.”  
She demonstrated on her own arm.

 

“It doesn’t hurt or anything! It just checks how fast your heart is beating. Do you mind if I have your arm?”

 

“Y-yes, here.”  
He timidly handed her the arm that wasn’t gripping my sleeve, wincing when she put her hands up to check.

“Levi, do you mind working the stopwatch for us?”

 

“Yeah.” I tried to not sound intimidating, and to mine and Hanji’s surprise, I succeeded. She handed me the stopwatch and I got it ready.

 

“Ok, go.”

I set the baby bomb clock in motion and watch the seconds tick be in almost absolute silence.

 

Tick, 

 

tick, 

 

tick, 

 

tick.

 

The stopwatch reached one minute. 

“Ok, times up. So is he healthy?” I inquired trying not to show any concern on my face, but to no avail. 

“He seems pretty healthy.” She stated while recording the data on the boy with her pen and notebook. “Your heartrate is pretty average and your wounds seem to be healing up pretty nicely! I have no idea why you had marks, burns and bruises from before the incident, but that’s not my job to pry on.” She sent a wink at me. “Anyways, I just wanted to check up on you guys, but I have some errands to run. If anything happens call me!”

With that, she had cleaned up and scurried out of the doorway. Hearing the slight slam of the closing front door the boy loosened his grip on my sleeve and pulled his arm back close to himself. Looking down in his lap, he managed a sentence just barely above a mumble.

“I-I’m sorry.”

 

‘What the fuck? What in the hell was he sorry for? Letting Hanji make sure he would live to see the next day? Why is he apologizing?’

 

”What are you sorry for?”

 

His eyes looked up at me slightly surprised as if it was obvious. Just as quickly he returned his gaze to his lap, now speaking in a barely audible whisper.

 

“For g-grabbing onto your sleeve.”

 

‘Really? That’s it? If he needed to hold onto my sleeve to not have a panic attack that’s fine. Why would he apologize for that?’

 

“It’s ok. If that’s something you need to do to feel ok then you do it.”

 

He looked at me his eyes widening a little in surprise. ’Before he had looked like he thought I was going to get mad and yell or something. Is that what his dad would do? I don’t want him to feel unsafe…'

 

“Thank you…..”

 

“Hm? I’m sorry, I was lost in my train of thought. What did you say?”

 

His voice was yet again barely above a whisper. He looked down in his lap shyly with a soft smile graced upon his lips.

“I-I said Thank you.”

‘Damn. That smile is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Even if it was barely visible, and only there for a second, it lit up everything.

 

“It’s no problem. Anyways, you’ve been here for about two days, you need a shower. Do you think you can do it on your own?”

He looked up at me a little suddenly.

 

“N-no thank you, I’ll manage.”

 

“Ok then go get in. I’ll wash some clothes for you. You remember where the bathroom is?”

 

“Y-yes sir. Thank you.”

 

‘Sir? Aw hell no. I’m not that old.’  
“No sir. It’s just Levi.”

 

“O-oh, ok. Thank you Levi.”

 

He flashed me a other small smile. ’Damn. I could faint at that sight. Wait, no. Levi shut up.’

 

“Whatever kid. Go hop in the shower, I’m going to go wash these dishes.”

I hurriedly scooped up our bowls headed for the kitchen, in no mood for him to catch a glimpse of the faint blush that I’m sure was resting on my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, so. i made this in Levi's point of view, cause i felt like it. and i need you to know if you like it better like this, because my friend said ppl reading this might get confused by the way i switch pov's through the other chapters, so i wanna know your opinion. anyways, i really hope you liked this chapter, i really enjoyed making it.
> 
> well, ill sse you next week with some more interesting stuff!
> 
> Stay weird, little Deathlings!!


	7. Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Tuesday!!!! i know its a lil early buf i got this chapter done early and was just like, "Fuck it." so here we are!!
> 
>  
> 
> well i hope you enjoy the chapter, i worked hard on it!! so here ya goooooooo!!

Eren’s POV

I stood looking at myself in the mirror. All my cuts, stabs, burns, and bruises were open to see. I quickly turned the hot water on and stepped into the shower.  
All of the warm liquid cascaded down me over all of my wounds. Stinging at the new ones.

When I finish I step out and dry off with a towel. I notice some clothes neatly folded and placed on the countertop.  
‘Did he put those there for me? When did he do that?’ I put on some boxers, a pair of loose fitting sweatpants and a baggy T-shirt. ‘I wonder why they call it a pair of pants if its only one piece of clothing.’ 

 

Stepping out of the bathroom I see Levi making sandwiches.  
’I hope I don’t have to eat again. I don’t even think I can still hold down what I had this morning. He’s doing too much for me I don’t know why he’s doing this. I don’t deserve this.’ 

I go and sit on the white couch. It wasn’t hard, nor was it fluffy, it was like the perfect couch.  
”how is it this comfortable….”

 

“Did you say something?”

Levi questioned my mumbling as he handed me a plate with one of the sandwiches.

 

“N-no, it was nothing…”

 

The kid isn’t going to tell me what he said.  
’Why though.’  
He just let the sandwich I handed him sit in his lap. He needs to eat or he wont get better.

 

“Eat your sandwich.”

 

He looked up at me with timid eyes then looking back down at the floor he barely mumbled.

“I-I’m sorry, I can’t.”

He just put the plate on the coffee table and looked down at his feet tense, like he was expecting my to hit him like his father probably would have.

 

“It’s ok, but you’re going to eat dinner.”

 

“Y-yes Levi.” 

 

I got up from my chair and went to the kitchen to make some tea. Once it was finished, I poured his, and then mine. He looked like someone who enjoyed at least a little flavor in the things they consume, so I made the lemon dark brew. I poured his in a blue mug that has waves painted on it, along with sea shells, and starfish. His eyes looked like an ocean, so why not give him a mug to match?

Returning to the living room, the brat was sitting upright on the couch, hands folded in his lap, and what really pissed me off was the eyes to the floor.  
’His eyes were lovely. Did someone tell him otherwise? What in the hell happened for this. Why did he learn to hide two beautiful, endless pools of wonder?’

I sighed and continued over to the couch.

 

“Here you go brat.” 

 

I said as I held out the mug. He looked at it hesitantly before finally taking it. He took small sips, looking like he enjoyed it. Maybe only a tiny bit, but it was  
something.

 

“T-thank you.” He mumbled again. He thanks me for everything and apologizes way too often.

 

“Welcome. Why do you keep saying thank you for everything? Also why do you apologize for everything you do?”

 

By now he was almost finished and had set his mug on the table.

 

“I-I didn’t mean to, I’m sor-”

 

He cut his own words off as his hands flew to his mouth, Looking down at the floor about to stare a hole through it.

 

I leaned over the coffee table to him and took his chin in my hands to make him look up at me. 

 

“ It’s ok Eren. You don’t need to apologize for anything. You can speak your mind, don’t hold back your words.” 

 

He stared at me for a moment before nodding slightly, calming down and I returned to sitting on the sofa across from him. I decided this might be a better time than others to ask what I was curious about.

 

“Eren.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you mind if I ask about what happened and who that man was?”

 

for a brief moment, a small flicker of fear appeared in his eyes before his gaze fell to the floor again.

 

“I-I guess not…”

 

‘Ok. This is progress. If I can find out this information I can help him.’

 

“Alright, first off. Who was that man in the alley trying to take you? Was he your father?”

 

“Um…no, not really…”

 

‘what?’ 

“Who was he then?”

 

“M-my owner.”

 

‘WHAT?’

 

“What do you mean your owner!?”

My voice was slightly concerned and it raised a little, but how could it not?  
He took a deep breath and started speaking.

 

“My mother was killed by bad people and they took me and my sister. They sold us and I haven’t seen her since. That was two years ago. The night you found me, I had made a run for it. The people you saw were my owners. One of the people who bought me. I didn’t think they would find me so soon. And well, here we are.”

 

My face was completely emotionless but my eyes were a bit wider. I was in disbelief. ‘How could someone do some this to such an innocent kid. Wait. What kind of things did they do to him?”

 

“If you don’t mind me asking. What did they do when they bought you?”

 

He seemed to stare an even bigger hole in the floor as he replied.

“W-well, they beat me cut me… sometimes they tried to kill me. T-they chained me….” He mumbled the next part.”.. r-raped me repeatedly...”

 

His eyes were now overflowing with tears. I made my way over and sat next to him pulling him into a tight hug. He began to sob into my chest.  
’How could someone do this. He suffered so much pain for the past, Two Years. TWO YEARS. For two years he didn’t have anyone. Continuously being hurt like this.’ My hold on the boy tightened. If not for his comfort, then for my own. I didn’t want to let him go. I cant let him go. And i don't even know why.

 

Soon after the sobs quieted into sniffles and we just sit on the couch, me holding him. He finally pulled away wiping his tear stained face. 

 

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dump all of this on you. Its my problem, I shouldn’t get others involved. Thank you so much for taking care of me. I think its time for me to go now.”

 

“No.”

My voice was stern and unwavering as he now looked me in the eyes.

 

“W-what…?”

“I said no. you’re going to stay here at least until your wounds are healed.”

 

“N-no, its ok. The pain isn’t anything I’m not used to.”

 

My heart broke at that last sentence. ‘ he shouldn’t be used to the pain of a fucking stab wound, or having more bruises cover you than actual skin.’

 

“When you leave where’re you gonna go.”

 

“W-wha- I-I don’t kno-”

 

“Then its decided.” I said standing up. “You’re staying here.” I didn’t give him a chance to respond as I left the room to go do laundry. In the corner of my eye though, I caught a small glimpse of him nodding his head with tears filling his eyes. This time not of sadness. But of acceptance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> am i the only one who finds it funny how in almost EVERY ereri/riren fanfic, grisha's a copmlete dickhead one way or another.
> 
>  
> 
> honestly i find it hilarious.
> 
>  
> 
> anyways, see you guys next week and i hope you all have funnnn!!!!
> 
> F Is FoR FrIeNdS ThAt Do StUfF ToGeThEr, U Is FoR YoU AnD MeEeEeEe!!!  
> N Is FoR AnYwHeRe, AnYtImE At AlL!
> 
> DoWn HeRe In ThE dEeP BlUe SeA!!!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> * I can hear you all cringing to death.*


	8. Shopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not dead! I swear!!
> 
> I'm sorry for not posting stuff recently, I've had a lot of schoolwork and i had to take my PSAT's (Why they give them to eith graders i have no idea.) and i just had a lot of shit on my plate. but i finally got a chapter done! I'll try to keep up with my deadline next time buf for now enjoy the new chapter!! :)

‘He said I could stay.’

 

Levi said I can stay here until my wounds heal. This feels funny. Its been so long since anybody has cared. Cared enough to not hit me.  
Cared enough to not get mad at me for speaking. Cared enough to cared enough to help me, heal me.   
I’m so incredibly happy I start tearing up when he leaves the room.

Wiping away my tears I get up from the couch, flinching as I felt my bruises throbbing at the sudden action. Well, what do I do now? Maybe I should head back to the other room I was in before. Finding the spare room I gently lowered myself onto the bed not wanting to upset any of the wounds. My legs feel like someone is stabbing them with screwdrivers everywhere, over and over again. It was the first time I’ve run in about two years, I guess I’m surprised my legs didn’t just snap.

I move to look out the window. The apartment is about three stories up with a street down below. People busying around. The room I’m in is clean. Like, very clean. Everywhere else in the house was to. Nothing out of place. Not even dust anywhere.

Well I guess it’s a nice change. Especially compared to where I’ve been ‘living’.

It’s a nice, clean room. A bed in the corner and a bow window with cushions and throw pillows. The walls are a neutral, cream color, and brown, hardwood floors. There was a desk against the wall opposite to the bed. A deep, dark brown with four drawers. Getting up I move over to the desk and start searching through its contents.

They were empty except for one drawer that held black ink pens, a pencil, and a blank sketchbook.  
How convenient. I quickly scoop up the items and make my way over to the window and sit down. Grabbing the pencil and opening up the sketchbook my hand starts moving on its own making graceful lines around the paper. Without really thinking I realize I’ve been drawing Levi. I continue anyways, not wanting to leave something unfinished. Soon enough I’ve finished the pencil sketch and started to ink it. It was a portrait of him.

 

“Whatcha drawing there?”

I jump at the sudden speech breaking the peaceful silence. I’ve been so consumed in my work I didn’t even notice him standing by the doorway until he said something.

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t m-mean to go through your things, o-or use anything. I-I just got a l-little curious a-and….” I trail off, silently scolding myself for being so nosy and invading.

Levi let out a small chuckle.

“It’s ok Eren. You can keep the art supplies. I just came to ask if you might be willing to go to the store with me. You don’t have any clothes, or personal belongings and we need to get you some things.” He stood patiently, waiting for my answer.

“I-I’m fine with that. B-but will there be a lot of people?” I replied. I don’t like crowds. They put me on edge because you never know who or what might be lurking. Easily hiding from view.

“There shouldn’t be. It’s a Tuesday and at this hour kids will be in school and most will have work so it should be fine.” 

“O-okay. When are we leaving?”

“We can go now?”

“O-okay.” Once Levi steps out of the room I quickly stash the supplies in back in the drawer. He comes back handing me a pair of black skinny jeans.

“You should wear something other then sweatpants. See if these fit and then we’ll leave.”

He says and I nod as he steps out of the room closing the door behind him. Once I have the jeans on I step out. Examining me, he nods.

“They look a little big but they’ll do.” He mumbles. Turning he grabs his keys and heads out the door with me following.

In the car I think he notices me fidgeting.

“Do you want to listen to music?”

“Um, sure.”

He hands me his phone and its on an app.

“Type in any song you feel like. It should have it on there.”

I think for a moment then finally decide on a song. Fireflies by Owl City starts playing from the speakers and I see him smirk.

“W-what?”

“Nothing” He responds still smirking.

“Can I try these on?” I ask holding out an outfit.  
“You can get whatever you want you don’t have to ask.”

“Oh, um, okay.” I head off towards the dressing room with various articles of clothing in hand. Once I manage to get them all on I exit the dressing room looking in the mirror.

I had put on a pair of black skinny jeans, a Three Days Grace T-shirt, black hightop converse, and a grey striped beanie. I think it looked pretty good. Levi came over and took a look at it and nodded in approval.

“It suits you. Pick out some more stuff and we can go to a different store.”

“A-alright.”

Soon we’re walking around the mall and there’s this really cool looking store. It’s dark inside and the employees have colorful hair and cute clothes. I think it’s name is Hot Topic. We head inside and I’m greeted with dark clothes, stuffed toys, hats. It was beautiful. I look around and find this really cute Pikachu hat with ears. 

“L-Levi, can I get this?”

“Tch, brat. I already said you don’t need to ask.”

“Umm, O-okay. I-I want this then.” I say it more like a question, but he still takes it and walked to the register. As I stand in line with the raven I notice a small box with ‘Pocky’ written on it. I pick up the box and examine it. It seems to be some sort of snack. Although, I don’t really enjoy the thought of eating, maybe this will be a good substitute until I can eat real food again.

“L-Levi, ca-umm, I-I want this.” I correct myself before making the mistake of asking when he told me not to. He takes the box from me and smirks at it, and then at me.

“W-w-what?” I inquire wondering if I shouldn’t get this after all.

“Do you know what this is?” He questions me, still witg a smirk on his face.

“I-I-I thought i-it was just a snack. W-was I wrong?”

“Not entirely. I’ll get it for you.” He says, turning to the cashier. Still smirking.

After we’ve paid, we headed home. It was starting to get dark out when we finally got back to the apartment.

“I’m going to make dinner. Do you have any preferences?” He stands quietly awaiting my answer.

“No I’m fine. I’m not really that hungry.” I tell him.

“You didn’t have lunch. You’re going to have something for dinner, and I don’t care how small it is as long as it’s something. You have to at least try.”

“U-um, okay. I don’t really know what to request though.” I reply. It’s been so long since I had a choice of what I ate that I pretty much don’t remember what I like.

“Does soup sound okay then? I can make chicken noodle so it doesn’t upset your stomach.”

“U-uh yeah. That sounds good. I’m fine with anything.”

“Tch.”

“W-what?” Did I say something wrong?

“You shouldn’t be fine with anything. You should be able to dislike some things, and prefer some foods over others.”

“O-oh, I-I’m sorry” I look down at the floor avoiding eye contact.

“It’s fine. Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault that you didn’t have that option.”

“U-um, okay.” I’m still taking extreme interest in this floor.

“Well I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”  
I look back at him and see him wearing a black frilly apron with simple pink flowers. I giggle at this adorable outfit on the guy.

“What’re you laughing at brat?”

“It’s nothing. Just that you look cute in that apron.”

“I’m not cute.” He says with a glare.

Oh no, I made him mad. I return my gaze to the floor. Maybe he’ll throw my out now. I wouldn’t be surprised. I’m not very useful or important anyways.

“Hey, Eren.”

His voice cuts through my thoughts and I realize he’s gotten a lot closet to me and was probably trying to get my attention. I look at him for a second before I could figure out anything to say.

“Don’t look so sad brat. Your smile is dazzling, and its brighter everywhere you wear it.” He says with his usual, no-emotion-face and goes back to the kitchen.  
I head back to the bedroom with a happy smile crossing my face. 

Dazzling. How weird. Well whatever.

I move into my room and over to the desk pulling out all the art supplies from this morning and continue where I left off with the picture of Levi.  
It was turning out fine. I finish inking and it looks good enough I guess. I’m not that good, so I don’t think Levi would like it. I hope he doesn’t see it.

“Eren. Dinner’s ready.” Levi tells me before walking out of my doorway towards the kitchen. I follow him to find two bowls of fucking delicious smelling chicken noodle soup. He pulls out a chair for me and I sit down as he pushes me in.

I wait for him as he sits down.

“You can eat ya know.”

“O-oh, I-I….” I stopped before I might say something I’ll regret.

“It’s fine. Just eat.” He sits down and begins on his soup. I silently take a sip.

“T-this is really good. Thank you.”

“Thank you and you’re welcome. This should be good on your stomach and I thought you would like the taste.” He replies, and we silently finish our meal.

 

I start to clear our bowls before he takes them out of my hands.

“It’s ok, go lay down. Its getting late.”

I move back into the bedroom and grabbed an extra large T-Shirt and a pair of sweatpants. After coming back from the bathroom from changing, I see Levi sitting on the side of the bed with a book in his hands.

“You ready to sleep?” He looks up from his book to ask. I nod in reply. He gets up pulling down the covers, then gestures for me to get in the bed while he puts his book away.

He pulls the covers up over me while I settle myself in the bed.

“So what were you drawing earlier?” He inquires while looking at me with that same expressionless face.

I blush at the thought of me drawing him. “I-It was n-nothing.” I replied trying not to get so flustered. Why am I getting flustered? What?

“Oh really. You seemed really into it when you were working on it.” He says still no expression. I just snuggle under the covers. “I-It was nothing.”

He looks at me for a second, then nods. “Alright then. Goodnight.” He turns to leave but I grab on to his sleeve.

“U-um.. c-can you stay please? J-just until I f-fall asleep?” I ask quietly.

He looks at me for a second and then nods and opens up the covers. “Scoot over.” I comply and he lays down next to me. A little surprising but what I didn’t expect was for him to wrap his arms around me in a warm embrace. I’m shocked, but cuddle up to him anyways.

 

“G-good night Levi.”

“Sweet dreams Eren.”


	9. Questions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry im sorry dont murder meh plz.

I wake up to the soft breaths of the boy laying next to me. He looks so at peace. Soft facial expressions, glowing in the morning sun’s rays. He’s cuddled up to my chest, holding on like I’m his lifeline. Its cute. Wait, cute? What? Whatever.

I part myself away from the sleeping brunette to recreate the same breakfast as yesterday. He ate dinner yesterday, so that’s a good start. He is a growing kid, he needs to be able to eat. Wait, how old is he exactly? Does he need to go to school? I only got out last year. He seems to be a lot younger then me. We might have to go down to the police station and see if I can take custody of him, and maybe we can register him for school when he seems well enough.

Taking the two bowls into the other room and setting them down on the nightstand, I gently try to wake the boy up.

“Hey kid. Get up, you gotta eat.”

“Hm?” His eyes flutter open revealing those ocean eyes of his while his disoriented self tries to figure out what’s happening. 

“I made breakfast. You need to eat and I need to talk to you about some stuff.”

“O-oh…okay.” He props himself up against the headboard with a still dazed look on his face. I hand him the yogurt and fruit bowl.

“Come on, eat.”

“A-alright.”

He takes a small spoonful putting it in his mouth and swallows. “Thank you.” He says looking into my eyes. I take my bowl and begin to eat while trying to ignore the small flutter I felt when he looked at me.

“We need to discuss some things.”

At that statement his eyes start to fill with worry.   
“Don’t worry, I’m not kicking you out and you’re not in trouble.”

At that he seems to ease, but he still seems on guard.

“First off, how old are you?”

“I-I’m sixteen.” He replies.

Okay, so he does need to go to school. Although he missed two years so he might have to take some private classes first.

“Alright. We need to go down to the police station so I can try to get you into my custody, okay?”  
His eyes instantly start to fill with endless anxieties once again.

“B-but what if they refuse? I-I don’t want to go into the foster system! What if t-“

“I’m not gonna let that happen okay? You’re staying with me weather they like it or not.” I cut him off because he looks on the brim of tears. I don’t want to let any salty water escape the oceans in his eyes.  
I try to move over to the other topic, witch I’m not sure how he’ll react to.

“Once I have you in my custody….. I think you might need to go back to school.”

He seems completely frozen at that remark. “What?”

 

“You’re sixteen right? So even if you-”

 

“YES!”

What? I thought he’d be nervous, or not want to go. So he’s okay with it?

“You wanna go?”

His face lights up with joy and it’s the most beautiful sight i’ve ever seen.

“Yes, yes, yes! When I was with my owners I was never able to learn anything or go to school and its been so long! Please, please, please! I really wanna go!”  
He’s practically jumping with joy and he looks like an excitable little puppy ready for bacon and a walk.

“Alright, Alright, hold your horses.(Jeans) We still have to go to the station first and you missed two years so you might have to take some private lessons first.”  
His happiness doesn’t waver in the slightest.

“I’m okay with that! As long as I get to go to school soon!”

I’ve never before seen a kid so happy to go to school. It’s amazing that he wants to go. The only thing I’m worried about is that something might happen and he might have a panic attack. 

“Well then. It’s eight thirty right now, so eat, get ready and we can be there be eleven. Then maybe we can check out the high school around here and get you enrolled. How does that sound?”

His eyes light up even more. “Amazing!” He replies with a cute smile and stuffs a spoonful of yogurt in his mouth.

 

♡

As Levi pulled up to the police station, Eren was getting visibly more and more nervous.

“Hey kiddo, it’ll work out fine okay? I need to legally become your guardian so you can go to school and be a part of things.” Trying to sound as soothing ad possible to help calm the boy.

“I-I know, I’m just….. scared.” He replied quietly looking down at his feet.

“I understand. But it’ll be over before you know it. They’ll talk to you, and to me. They might ask you questions about what happened with those kidnappers.”

“I know.”

“Alright well, lets get this over with.” I get out of the car a d head over to the other side where the brunette stands looking at the building before us. I take his hand in my own and lead him over to the glass doors. We step in and walk up to the counter as a man that looks to be in his twenties greets us.

“Hello sir. what can I help you with today?” He offers a small smile glancing from me, to Eren, and back to me.  
“Yes, I’d like to see an officer in charge of found minors.” I tell him with no emotion.

“Sure. I’ll be right back. You can take a seat over there” He says pointing to a group of chairs and a coffee table across the room. He then wanders off through a door without another word. I bring Eren over to the chairs to sit down. He still seems pretty nervous, but this’ll be over soon. Hopefully no one makes him uncomfortable, or triggers a panic attack.

Soon a man walks out from the door the young officer disappeared into. He’s tall and muscular, with combed, blond hair. But the thing that really caught my attention and made it hard for me to hold back a smirk were his massive eyebrows. I swear, those things look like they might start colonizing on someone’s face.

“Good morning sirs, I’m officer Smith. Dave said you requested to speak with me?” He said extending his hand. “Yes, sir. We’d like to speak with you.” We stood up and I shook it then he turned to Eren with his outstretched hand. But Eren just moves a little farther backwards and kinda shuffles behind me.

It looks like he takes the hint and backs off. “Follow me. We’ll be heading to a private room to go over anything you needed to ask or discuss anything you’re concerned about.” He starts walking back to the same door and we follow. Soon we come to a room with blank walls, a table with two chairs on each side, and a water tank with small paper cups.

“Have a seat.” Eren and I sit down in two chairs as officer Smith sits in one of the chairs opposite to us. “So, what is it you need to talk about.”

 

“I want to become the legal guardian of this kid. I found him in an alley being beaten be two grown men and took him back with me to my house. That was about three days ago.”

He looks shocked by my statement but keeps his composure. “Well, we will have to hear from him but we cant just let you have custody. After we question him he can stay with you, but we’re going to have to take a look at where you live, where you work, that sort of stuff.”

“I understand that.”

“Okay.” He turns to the small brunette that is visibly trying to shrink back into his chair. “What’s your name?” He questions.

“E-Eren..”

“So Eren, can you tell me why you don’t already have parents, and what was happening with the men in the alley?”

He shrinks back even more. Come on kid. If you don’t tell him, they’ll take you.

 

“Y-yes.”

 

Then he begins.

 

“A-around two years ago I lived with my mom and my adopted sister. One day some strange people broke into our house. My mom fought them, but one s-stabbed her. And then they knocked me and Mikasa unconscious. When I woke up we were in s-some sort of empty warehouse. There were doors that led to other rooms, and Mikasa was next to me. I-I tried talking t-to her but she was s-still unconscious. The men that had taken u-us h-heard me talking a-and as a p-punishment, t-they, t-they r-raped..” He was too caught up in sniffles and sobs to finish his sentence. I put my arms around him and pulled him to my chest. 

 

“Shhhh, you’re ok. You’re safe now.”

 

Soon he taps me signaling he’s ready to continue.

“A-after that they separated me and Mikasa and took me to some place with people, a-and t-they showed m-me off. Soon I was with another man with duck tape over my mouth and I was bound in shackles, thrown into the trunk of a car. I was never fed anything but a slice of bread, or a scrap of moldy meat maybe once every two or three weeks. They liked to beat me, cut me, some even t-tried to kill me. I was in that situation and had 15 different owners in two years. T-the night Levi found me was the night I h-had made a run for it. I had come here but soon the found me sleeping in an alley and they tried to take me back. I-I tried to fight, but I was just about unconscious and Levi came and saved me. The day Levi saved me was about three days ago.” He finishes and is now gripping my hand like its his lifeline. He then buries himself in my chest with his arms holding on. I wrap my arms around him and look at Office Smith.

At first he seems a little shocked, but then regains his composure. “Well, that was a lot. You can stay with Levi for now but we’re going to have to take a look at some technical stuff before we make anything legal.”  
Eren pulls his face away from my chest to look at the officer. 

“S-so I get to stay with Levi?” He inquires, staring at the blonde.

“Yes.”

His face lights up at that simple response and he pulls away from me to look at me. 

“Levi! I get to stay!” He says so happily it brings a tiny curve at the ends of my mouth. “Yes, I heard him. Now come on, Lets go home and I can make lunch.”  
He happily gets up and we leave the station.

Heading home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IM SORRY. I had a lot of school stuff to do so nowi have updated. Im sorry i missed the deadline............again. well, i hope you all like this chapter and have a wonderful week. This was fun to work on!   
> ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡


	10. School

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YAYYYYYYY!!!!  
> I managed to do something correctly for once. I hope you guys had a happy halloween. I'm working on anoneshot for you all, and it should be out soon.
> 
> Well enjoy the chapter!

I wake up to the soft breaths of the boy laying next to me. He looks so at peace. Soft facial expressions, glowing in the morning sun’s rays. He’s cuddled up to my chest, holding on like I’m his lifeline. Its cute. Wait, cute? What? Whatever.

I part myself away from the sleeping brunette to recreate the same breakfast as yesterday. He ate dinner yesterday, so that’s a good start. He is a growing kid, he needs to be able to eat. Wait, how old is he exactly? Does he need to go to school? I only got out last year. He seems to be a lot younger then me. We might have to go down to the police station and see if I can take custody of him, and maybe we can register him for school when he seems well enough.

 

Taking the two bowls into the other room and setting them down on the nightstand, I gently try to wake the boy up.

 

“Hey kid. Get up, you gotta eat.”

 

“Hm?” His eyes flutter open revealing those ocean eyes of his while his disoriented self tries to figure out what’s happening. 

 

“I made breakfast. You need to eat and I need to talk to you about some stuff.”

 

“O-oh…okay.” He props himself up against the headboard with a still dazed look on his face. I hand him the yogurt and fruit bowl.

 

“Come on, eat.”

 

“A-alright.”

He takes a small spoonful putting it in his mouth and swallows. “Thank you.” He says looking into my eyes. I take my bowl and begin to eat while trying to ignore the small flutter I felt when he looked at me.

 

“We need to discuss some things.”

 

At that statement his eyes start to fill with worry. 

“Don’t worry, I’m not kicking you out and you’re not in trouble.”

 

At that he seems to ease, but he still seems on guard.

“First off, how old are you?”

“I-I’m sixteen.” He replies.

Okay, so he does need to go to school. Although he missed two years so he might have to take some private classes first.

“Alright. We need to go down to the police station so I can try to get you into my custody, okay?”

His eyes instantly start to fill with endless anxieties once again.

“B-but what if they refuse? I-I don’t want to go into the foster system! What if t-“

“I’m not gonna let that happen okay? You’re staying with me weather they like it or not.” I cut him off because he looks on the brim of tears. I don’t want to let any salty water escape the oceans in his eyes.

I try to move over to the other topic, witch I’m not sure how he’ll react to.

“Once I have you in my custody….. I think you might need to go back to school.”

 

He seems completely frozen at that remark. 

“What?”

 

“You’re sixteen right? So even if you-”

“YES!”

 

What? I thought he’d be nervous, or not want to go. So he’s okay with it?

 

“You wanna go?”

 

His face lights up with joy and it’s the most beautiful sight i’ve ever seen.

 

“Yes, yes, yes! When I was with my owners I was never able to learn anything or go to school and its been so long! Please, please, please! I really wanna go!”

 

He’s practically jumping with joy and he looks like an excitable little puppy ready for bacon and a walk.

 

“Alright, Alright, hold your horses.(Jeans) We still have to go to the station first and you missed two years so you might have to take some private lessons first.”

 

His happiness doesn’t waver in the slightest.

“I’m okay with that! As long as I get to go to school soon!”

I’ve never before seen a kid so happy to go to school. It’s amazing that he wants to go. The only thing I’m worried about is that something might happen and he might have a panic attack. 

 

“Well then. It’s eight thirty right now, so eat, get ready and we can be there be eleven. Then maybe we can check out the high school around here and get you enrolled. How does that sound?”

 

His eyes light up even more. “Amazing!” He replies with a cute smile and stuffs a spoonful of yogurt in his mouth.

 

 

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

 

 

As Levi pulled up to the police station, Eren was getting visibly more and more nervous.

 

“Hey kiddo, it’ll work out fine okay? I need to legally become your guardian so you can go to school and be a part of things.” Trying to sound as soothing ad possible to help calm the boy.

“I-I know, I’m just….. scared.” He replied quietly looking down at his feet.

“I understand. But it’ll be over before you know it. They’ll talk to you, and to me. They might ask you questions about what happened with those kidnappers.”

 

“I know.”

 

“Alright well, lets get this over with.”

I get out of the car and head over to the other side where the brunette stands looking at the building before us. I take his hand in my own and lead him over to the glass doors. We step in and walk up to the counter as a man that looks to be in his twenties greets us.

 

“Hello sir. what can I help you with today?” He offers a small smile glancing from me, to Eren, and back to me.

“Yes, I’d like to see an officer in charge of found minors.” I tell him with no emotion.

“Sure. I’ll be right back. You can take a seat over there” He says pointing to a group of chairs and a coffee table across the room. He then wanders off through a door without another word. I bring Eren over to the chairs to sit down. He still seems pretty nervous, but this’ll be over soon. Hopefully no one makes him uncomfortable, or triggers a panic attack.

 

Soon a man walks out from the door the young officer disappeared into. He’s tall and muscular, with combed, blond hair. But the thing that really caught my attention and made it hard for me to hold back a smirk were his massive eyebrows. I swear, those things look like they might start colonizing on someone’s face.

 

“Good morning sirs, I’m officer Smith. Dave said you requested to speak with me?” He said extending his hand. 

“Yes, sir. We’d like to speak with you.” We stood up and I shook it then he turned to Eren with his outstretched hand. But Eren just moves a little farther backwards and kinda shuffles behind me.

 

It looks like he takes the hint and backs off. “Follow me. We’ll be heading to a private room to go over anything you needed to ask or discuss anything you’re concerned about.” He starts walking back to the same door and we follow.

Soon we come to a room with blank walls, a table with two chairs on each side, and a water tank with small paper cups.

 

“Have a seat.” Eren and I sit down in two chairs as officer Smith sits in one of the chairs opposite to us. “So, what is it you need to talk about.”

 

“I want to become the legal guardian of this kid. I found him in an alley being beaten be two grown men and took him back with me to my house. That was about three days ago.”

 

He looks shocked by my statement but keeps his composure. “Well, we will have to hear from him but we cant just let you have custody. After we question him he can stay with you, but we’re going to have to take a look at where you live, where you work, that sort of stuff.”

 

“I understand that.”

 

“Okay.” He turns to the small brunette that is visibly trying to shrink back into his chair. “What’s your name?” He questions.

 

 

“E-Eren..”

 

“So Eren, can you tell me why you don’t already have parents, and what was happening with the men in the alley?”

 

He shrinks back even more. Come on kid. If you don’t tell him, they’ll take you.

 

“Y-yes.”

Then he begins.

“A-around two years ago I lived with my mom and my adopted sister. One day some strange people broke into our house. My mom fought them, but one s-stabbed her. And then they knocked me and Mikasa unconscious. When I woke up we were in s-some sort of empty warehouse. There were doors that led to other rooms, and Mikasa was next to me. I-I tried talking t-to her but she was s-still unconscious. The men that had taken u-us h-heard me talking a-and as a p-punishment, t-they, t-they r-raped..”

He was too caught up in sniffles and sobs to finish his sentence. I put my arms around him and pulled him to my chest. 

“Shhhh, you’re ok. You’re safe now.”

 

Soon he taps me signaling he’s ready to continue.

 

“A-after that they separated me and Mikasa and took me to some place with people, a-and t-they showed m-me off. Soon I was with another man with duck tape over my mouth and I was bound in shackles, thrown into the trunk of a car. I was never fed anything but a slice of bread, or a scrap of moldy meat maybe once every two or three weeks. They liked to beat me, cut me, some even t-tried to kill me. A-and t-they… they r-raped m-me… a lot.... I was in that situation and had 15 different owners in two years. T-the night Levi found me was the night I h-had made a run for it. I had come here but soon the found me sleeping in an alley and they tried to take me back. I-I tried to fight, but I was just about unconscious and Levi came and saved me. The day Levi saved me was about three days ago.” He finishes and is now gripping my hand like its his lifeline. He then buries himself in my chest with his arms holding on. I wrap my arms around him and look at Office Smith.

 

At first he seems a little shocked, but then regains his composure. “Well, that was a lot. You can stay with Levi for now but we’re going to have to take a look at some technical stuff before we make anything legal.”  
Eren pulls his face away from my chest to look at the officer. 

 

“S-so I get to stay with Levi?” He inquires, staring at the blonde.

 

“Yes.”

 

His face lights up at that simple response and he pulls away from me to look at me. 

 

“Levi! I get to stay!” He says so happily it brings a tiny curve at the ends of my mouth.

“Yes, I heard him. Now come on, Lets go home and I can make lunch.”

 

He happily gets up and we leave the station.

 

Heading home.

 

 

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

 

 

Over the next week it was mostly calm. Me and Levi lazed around the house for the most part. Some people from the police department including Officer Smith came over and inspected Levi’s apartment. When they came I got kind of nervous, but it all worked out well. They made sure Levi’s job was okay and could support the both of us. Now, after a shit ton of paperwork, he’s finally my legal guardian.

 

During that time, we looked through high schools in the area and we found one close by. I took the entrance exam and passed because its all pretty easy stuff that I learned back when I was in advanced classes. Trost High is the name of the school and today’s going to be my first day.

 

I stand in the mirror looking at my appearance making sure I don’t look like a trash bag. I’m wearing yet another Three Days Grace T-shirt and black skinny jeans with black converse and a slightly oversized black hoodie. So basically the first outfit Levi bought me without the beanie. Best case scenario, no one comes near me or touches me or tries to socialize with me in any way and it can stay like that until I graduate.

 

Levi bought me a black drawstring bag with a hot pink skull right on front. What can I say? Hot pink’s my favorite color. Taking one last look in the mirror with my unable to be tamed bedhead, I decide I look good enough. 

As I try making my way out of the bathroom, I accidentally bang my hip on the counter. I let out a small cry and crumple to the floor holding my hip as all my bruises start to throb all over. Levi immediately rushes in and is at my side in a second.

 

“Eren! What happened?” He inquired putting a hand on my shoulder, his voice full of concern.

 

“I-It’s nothing…..I hit my hip… I’ll be alright.” I manage to get those words out through gritted teeth.

 

“Eren, I really think we should wait until you’re fully healed. Your bruises still hurt, your stab wound isn’t all the way closed, you just got out of such a horrible situation. Are you sure you really want to go today? We can wait until next week ya know.” He said worriedly.

 

“No. I wanna go today. I really want to start today and restart my education. I don’t wanna miss anymore than I already have.” I reply while standing up, my hand on the counter to support my weight. He has his arm around my waist to make sure I’ll be okay. 

 

“Are you sure?” He looks into my eyes and scans my face for any sign of uncertainty. 

 

“I’ll be okay Levi. I just go to my classes, learn and leave. I’ll be alright.” I tell him hoping he stops worrying. He shouldn’t be stressed because of me, I’m not worth it. Most of the reason I actually want to go today is because Levi needs a break from me and all of my problems.

 

“Fine.” He replies turning to exit the bathroom and move to the kitchen. I follow ready to start my day. Weather he admits it or not, I’m too much trouble for him to have to take care of me for another week. 

 

I grab my backpack and start to head out the door when Levi grabs my shoulder preventing me from leaving. I turn to question him as he hands me an apple, grabbing his keys and heading out the door. I follow and get in his car sitting in the passenger. 

 

“Eat it. You’re going to need energy.” He says sternly.  
Complying with his command, I nibble at the red fruit slow as if I’m not sure if it could be poisoned. 

 

 

We pull into the parking lot of the school, I’ve only eaten about half my apple and I’m getting more nervous as he finds a space and parks. He unbuckles his seatbelt and turns to face me.

 

“Eren, are you absolutely, positively sure that you’re ready to start today?” He asks.

 

“Yes.” I reply trying to sound confident.

 

“Well, be careful. As you know, people can be cruel. I don’t want you hurt so promise me you’ll be careful.”  
“I promise.” I pull him into a tight hug. “I promise I’ll be careful today, ok Levi?” I look him in the eyes to make sure he knows I’ll be fine. He meets my eyes and replies.

 

“Okay.” I start to get out of the car. “Have a good day. I’ll be here to pick you up at three.” 

“Okay, bye.” 

 

I walk towards the doors with one hand holding my apple, and the other in my pocket running my fingers along the cool comforting metal of me razor blade.

 

 

Just in case.

 

 

 

I walk into my homeroom class and I’m told to stand up front with my homeroom teacher.

“Good morning class. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. How are you feeling this fine Monday morning?” The class replies with a series of tired groans as to answer his question. “Today we have a new student. I hope you all treat him with respect, the same way you want someone to treat you. Now, please introduce yourself.”

 

Oh shit.

 

I have to talk in front of all these people. I wasn’t prepared for this. Shit what if I mess up? I approach the front and start my introduction to my peers.

 

“I-I-I’m E-Eren Jeager. I’m s-sixteen, and I um, I just moved here. Um, t-that’s all-“

 

“What’s up with all your stuttering Jeager? Got some sort of speech problem? Or are you nervous cause ya look like you’re about to shit your pants.” A muscular blonde called and made a few people snicker. I put my head down keeping my eyes glued to the floor, not knowing how to respond to that.

 

“U-Um.. I..”

 

“That’s enough Reiner. Unless you want detention for the week?” The teacher cut in. “Mr. Yeager, you may go take a seat in the back, next to Jean. Jean, please raise your hand so he can tell where you are.”

 

“I’m right here!” I hear an ash blonde boy call from the back with his hand raised. Quickly I head over and take a seat to the left of him right next to the window. 

 

“So, Eren, right?” 

 

I look at him and silently nod. I don’t want anymore attention drawn to me. It feels like everyone is watching my every move. Waiting for me to fuck up, so they can whisper to their friends and judge me. So they can give me looks because I’m worthless, because I cant do anything without fucking up in one way or another.

 

“Well as you heard I’m Jean.” He holds out his hand and gives a cocky looking smile. I hesitantly take my hand out of my pocket to shake his and look down at the floor. Maybe he wont talk to me if I don’t show interest. Well that doesn’t work. He tries talking to me all through homeroom. Soon I finally cave and we start to talk. It feels nice. I almost feel…normal. 

 

“So where did you live before here?” He inquires innocently. I know he didn’t mean to but the question brings back painful memories. Though not full force, or enough to push me into a panic attack, but still there. I try to push then away as I reply.

 

“I used to live in the Shiganshina District.”

 

His face seems surprised as he takes in the information. “That place is scary as hell. It’s like I cant walk around a corner without the fear of being shot.”

 

Well, it isn’t the best place to live, let alone raise children in. There were regular shootings. Burglaries and murder wasn’t uncommon. Drugs were everywhere, but it wasn’t all that bad. There were still some good kids. And some families knew each other and stayed together like family. I didn’t know better places existed at the time, so I thought it was pretty normal. I was happy for what I had. I didn’t know there were places so much better and safer then there so it never really bothered me.

 

“Well, it’s not the best place to live, but it’s okay.”

 

“Whatever you say. Hey, do ya wanna sit with me at lunch? Assuming you don’t know anyone else just yet.” He asks with a smile.

 

“Um, sure.”

 

“Alright then.” And then the bell rings, signaling the end of homeroom.

 

 

Soon my morning classes were over and there was a thirty-five minute lunch period. After going to my locker I head to the cafeteria in hopes of meeting Jean there. Maneuvering through the deserted hallways I hear my name called.

 

“Jeager!” 

 

I turn to see the tall, muscular blonde from this morning advancing towards me with a tall boy with dark brown hair with him.

 

“Well you little shit. You almost got me detention this morning. Now, to pay for that I’m going to need twenty dollars.” He says threateningly. 

 

“I-I’m, sorry. I don’t h-have any money with me-”

 

“The fuck did you say Jeager!? “ He yells and slams me into a locker. I cry out loudly as I crumple to the floor clutching my side as all of my bruises throb, and my stab wound feels like it’s opening again. 

 

“Oh, come on. It didn’t hurt that bad you fucking weakling.” He says as he lands a kick to my stomach. My stab starts to bleed and I start coughing up blood and I can’t breathe. “Well Jeager, maybe next time you’ll remembe-” His words are cut off as a loud crack sounded through the hallway. I lift my head up just enough to see Jean, landing another punch to the blonde boy’s face. The one with darker hair goes to punch him but Jean quickly lands a swift uppercut. 

 

“Get the fuck out of here!” He yells at the two other guys as they slowly get up and walk away. I cant fucking breathe. My stomach hurts too much. I feel myself being lifted and I open my eyes back up to see Jean carrying me somewhere. 

 

Soon we reach a bathroom and he sets me on the floor. “Take your shirt off.” He says as he grabs layers of paper towels and starts to wet them in the sink. My eyes widen at his request as unwanted memories start to flood my brain.

 

“N-N-No..”

 

“Eren, all that blood needs to be cleaned, now tak-”

 

“NO!” 

 

I yell at him. I don’t want him to see me. I don’t want to be hurt. I don’t want to be taken, and abused again. Please don’t make me do this.

 

He sighs. “Would you like to do this yourself?” He questions, crouching down next to me.

 

“Y-yes..” I reply shyly.

 

“Okay then.” He hands me the wet paper towels and stands up. “I’m going to wait outside and make sure no one comes in, alright?” he inquires looking at me.  
I look back up at him. 

“Y-yeah…thank you.” I say staring back at the floor. He walks out and when I hear the door I grit my teeth through the pain as I pull myself up and take off my Hoodie and my bloodstained shirt. Well, at least my hoodie didn’t get ruined. Although, when I get home, I’m going to have to throw my shirt away. Setting the aside next to one of the sinks, I look at the damage in the mirror.

 

New bruises were starting to form and there was blood all over from the small opening in the stab wound. I used the wet paper towels and cleaned everything up, wincing at every slight touch. After that I put my shirt on and headed out the door. Jean was standing guard outside the door with a serious expression on his face.

 

“H-Hey…” I said quietly. He looked angry and I didn’t want to upset him more. He turned to look at me and his gaze softened.

 

“Hey are you okay? I’m sorry I wasn’t there before you got hurt.”

 

“Y-yeah… I’m fine. It’s not your fault.”

 

He didn’t argue but instead invited me back to the cafeteria to eat with him. I follow him down to the cafeteria and thank god there weren’t too many people.  
“Do you wanna sit with my friends or just me.”

“J-just you today, please.”

 

“Oki doki!” I was happy there was at least someone in this school who didn’t want me to die.

 

When lunch is over we go back to different classes and finish up the school day. I was staring at the clock ready to jump out of my seat within a second. I know I said Levi needs time to himself, but fuck it. I wanna see him. I already have all my stuff packed and I jump out of my seat and head to the door. Sure enough, there he is. Parked and waiting. 

I speed walk over to the car get in my seat and hive him a huge hug. He seems surprised at first but soon hugs back.

 

“Eren, is something wrong?” He inquires a little worriedly.

 

“No, I just missed you.” I reply, and he tightens the hug ever so slightly.”

 

 

“I missed you too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> F iS fOr FiRe ThAt BuRnS DoWn ThE wHoLe   
>  ToWn,
> 
> U FoR UrAnIuuuuuM
> 
> N iS FoR No sUrViVoOoOoOoOoOoRrRrRrSsSs!!
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Down here, with Ereri.
> 
>  
> 
> ^♡^ <\-------------- ( Victor )


	11. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck. I'm sorry. Life has been happening, so all my updates have been getting delayed. I might start updating every other week instead because I cant keep a deadline on my life. Well, I liked making this chapter so enjoy!

Somethings up with him. I know it is. He’s been acting different since he got into the car. He reeked of the metallic scent of blood. Every move he makes he winces. And now I stand over the trash can, looking down on a balled up, blood soaked Three Days Grace shirt.

“God damn it.”

What the fuck happened? Did he fall down a fucking elevator shaft? I didn’t even think the human body held this much blood. 

He’s in the shower. Probably cleaning up a huge, bloody mess of his torso. I don’t understand what in the actual fuck happened at school today, but he sure as hell isn’t going back tomorrow. If ever.

I hear the water stop. I try to calm myself down and settle with taking a seat on the couch. I need him to talk to me. I don’t want him getting beat up again. I swear if it’s another student that did this to him they wont live to see the next day. Hanji can hide the body, or she would most likely use it for an experiment or something...

My thoughts are interrupted by the clicking of a door and Eren shuffling out of the bathroom.

 

“Hey Levi.”

 

“Hey. Come sit down. I wanna talk.”

 

His face contorts into an expression of slight confusion but he shakes it off and sits on the couch opposite of me.

 

“So, how was your day at school?” I inquire to see how much information I can get out of him without being too direct.

 

His face first seems surprised and sad, but is soon replaced with a smile.

“It was great. And I actually made a friend. His name is Jean and he’s pretty cool.” He replies with a big smile. It’s a fake smile though, because his eyes hold fear.

“Is that all?”  
I again ask. How much will he tell me? 

 

“Pretty much, yeah. The rest is just boring class stuff.” He finishes. 

 

Well. Here goes.

 

“Then can you explain why when you got in my car you smelled like blood, you wince at everything, and why I found your bloody shirt in the trash?”

 

His eyes widened before they found their way staring at the floor. A grim expression of shame and guilt settled over his features. He looks like a puppy that just pissed on the floor. 

 

“I-I-I’m sorry…” He shrank back into the couch his arms covering his stomach. His eyes started to well up with tears but didn’t dare to spill.

 

I move over to the other couch and sit next to him. Not too close because I don’t want to scare him. Even though all I wanna do is hold him and whisper sweet nothings to him and tell him it’ll be okay. Wait. Sweet nothings? Well whatever. I cant do that now, I have to get him to explain to my what happened today.

 

“Eren.”

 

He shifts still trying to avoid meeting my eyes.

“Eren, I’m not mad. I just need you to tell me what happened at school today. I want you to be safe, but I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me.”

 

He shifts a little bit away from me.

 

 

“B-but if I t-tell you you’ll hate me..”

 

I’m taken back by this. Hate him? I don’t think I could hold a drop of hate for him no matter how hard I tried. Why would I hate him for something like this? Did he do it to himself so he says I’ll hate him for doing it?

 

“I could never hate you. No matter what you tell me right now I promise I wont hate you.”

I reach my hand over and give his a gentle squeeze. He needed to know I’m here for him no matter what may happen.

He takes a deep breath and begins.

“W-well, when I got to my morning class the teacher told me I had to go up front a-and introduce myself. I-I was r-really nervous so I was stuttering a lot, and one of the guys started making fun of me.”

I listen intently as he stares unfocused at the couch cushion, most likely replaying todays events behind his hazed over eyes. 

“T-the teacher told him to stop or he’d get detention. H-he stopped. Then later he found me in the halls while I was headed to the cafeteria. Everyone else was already at lunch so no one was around. H-he called me out f-for getting him in trouble. I-I-I didn’t m-mean to, I j-just wanted t-to sit d-d-down! H-he told me t-to pay him for the trouble, but I didn’t have any money. H-h-he smashed me against a locker a-and s-started beating m-me. B-but then Jean came a-and p-punched him and got m-me away from him. I-I cleaned myself up in the bathroom and just went about my day.” He finishes and I’m left staring at him when he finally meets my eyes, but stares back down again. Still looking like he was ready to get beat or something.

Fuck it. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him to my chest. He was trembling. He wrapped his arms around me and started to silently cry into my chest. Sobs wracked his whole body…. But no sound?

“I-I’m sorry Levi. I should’ve told you. I-I just didn’t want you to get mad.” His voice sounded barely above a whisper as I felt the wet tears dampen my shirt.

I tightened my grip only slightly so I didn’t hurt him.

“Shh. It’s okay. I’ve got you, you’re safe. Why would you think I’d get mad at you for something like this?”

He sniffled slightly and replied. 

“For being weak. For being so useless all the time to the point where I cant even stand up for myself.”

 

Useless? The fuck?

 

“Eren, what in hell makes you think you’re useless?”

 

“Well that’s what everyone tells me. And they’re right. I can never do anything for myself. Someone always has to help me and even then I always screw everything up.”

 

‘That’s what everyone tells me’ Those fucking bastards. He’s not useless in any fucking way. He doesn’t screw stuff up. He’s sweet and fragile. And even though he had just gotten through so many problems he’s still here, fighting, and living. His wounds are recovering, and I hope that over time, I can help his mental state to recover from all this goddamn trauma that those sick bastards forced on him.

 

“You don’t screw anything up. You’re strong. Maybe physically you still need to recover but you’re the strongest person I know. No matter what hell you had just been through, you’re still here fighting and you made the decision to do something and go to school. You’re amazing Eren, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.”

He sniffled and he started crying a little harder. Fuck, did I say something wrong?

 

“Hey brat, why are you crying more now?” 

 

He pulls away only a little and looks up at me. His eyes filled with sadness, but a small, tiny, miniscule hint of happy. A ghost of a smile almost played across his lips.

 

“Because no one’s ever cared enough to tell me something like that.”

 

Hearing him say that just about broke my heart. This sweet, beautiful kid never gets compliments, or praises. He’s amazing in almost every way and he doesn’t even believe it.

 

“Well it’s true, and I care about you more than anything. Okay?”

 

“okay.” He replies in a small voice burying his face back into my chest and snuggling closer. I held him tighter.  
“Oh, umm..” He starts but trails off.

 

“Hm? What is it Eren?”

 

He looks up only slightly but doesn’t meet my eyes.  
“Well, I think we might need to go to Hanji.”

 

“Yeah. I can take you tomorrow to get your injuries checked out if you want?” I suggest looking at his adorable face.

 

“Well, no…. I kinda mean now. I’ve been dizzy for a while now and I’m pretty sure my stab wound opened earlier.”

 

He pulls away from our embrace and tugs up the side of his shirt careful enough to not let me see too much. A recently placed gauze sticks over the stab wound and it looks like it’s already starting to bleed through. We’ve been here for like what? Twenty-five minutes!? Its almost already dripping blood.

 

I quickly get up and go to the bathroom grabbing some stuff and come back and replace the gauze. I go over and grab my favorite hoodie and snuggly pull it over him. Grabbing my keys I scoop the brunette up bridal style, seeing how he would be too dizzy to walk, and head out the door.

 

I buckle him in place in the passenger side of the car and slip into the drivers seat. Quickly and carefully I pull away and head over to Hanji’s house. It wasn’t very far so it would only be a five minute drive. Thank fucking god there isn’t a lot of traffic.

 

“Levi, I’m tired…”

 

“Come on hang in there, you cant fall asleep.”

 

“But I’m sleepy.”

 

“I swear to god brat, don’t you dare fall asleep.”

 

I pull up to Hanji’s house, scoop up Eren and burst through her door.

 

“Hanji!” I yell.

 

She’s standing over near a couch and she sees me and quickly gets the message.

 

“What did he hurt?”

 

“Some kid beat him up at school. He’s lost a lot of blood and his stab wound reopened. He says he’s dizzy and keeps telling me he’s sleepy.” I replied.

 

She nods understanding. “Got it. Take him to the guest bedroom and take off his shirt.” She starts running off. “And don’t you dare let him fall asleep!”

 

I do as instructed and lay him down on the guest bed. I go to reach and take off the hoodie and his shirt but he grabs my wrist and stops me. I look to his face and he’s staring at me wide eyed.

 

“D-don’t touch me! Don’t make me t-t-take them off!” 

His voice is full of fear and my heart drops at what he thinks I might be trying to do to him right now. 

 

I sit on the side of the bed and look into his beautiful orbs of the ocean and try to look as least intimidating as possible.

 

“Eren, I swear, we need to take your shirt off so Hanji can fix your injuries. Please Eren, I would never hurt you. Do you trust me?” (Aladdin fans don’t you fucking dare)

 

He stares at me and takes a gulp and releases my hand. I make quick work of removing my hoodie and his shirt just when Hanji walks into the room.

 

She has some sharp objects and he almost goes into a panic attack. I quickly hold one hand in my own and use the other to cup his face and make him look away from Hanji’s work and at me.

 

“Shh. Eren, I’m right here okay? Don’t be scared. We wont hurt you.”

 

I continue to sit there by his side and comfort him until Hanji finally announces that she’s done.

 

“Well, he lost a lot of blood, like, really a lot. But he should be fine now. Although you’re gonna be hella sore tomorrow. What even happened? And if you don’t mind me asking, what happened the night Levi found you?” She informed and inquired while cleaning up her medical supplies.

 

I looked to Eren, unsure of weather he wanted her to know or not. He looked back at me with a pained yet…determined expression? I got the message and gripped his hand slightly tighter as he proceeded.

 

“Well, the night Levi has found me was when I ran away from my owners. I had been bought and moved around for about two years now. And today one of the kids at my school beat me up.” He filled in while staring emotionlessly at the wall. Sadness filled in his eyes. I want so desperately to make that sadness go away. To make his eyes shine like the sun with joy.

 

Hanji cleared her throat. “Eren, I don’t mean to be rude, but can you be more specific on what kind of things they did to you while you were there?” Her eyes were filled with worry and sympathy. She didn’t get too close though because she knew it could set him off.

 

Eren just looked kind of panicked and I moved him into my arms and gave Hanji a look. She understood and as her suspicions were confirmed her face fell but she tried remaining professional. 

 

“Well, is it okay if I take a blood sample?”

 

At this Eren’s eyes widened.

 

“W-what?”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna hurt you and it’s nothing serious. I just need to check for something to make sure you didn’t catch any illnesses while you were in other places. Is that okay?”

 

It took a while, but eventually he nodded. She soon got out an anti-bacterial pad, a needle, and put on a different pair of rubber gloves. 

 

“Can you please hold your arm out for me?”

 

He held his arm out and buried his face into my chest turning as far away from what was happening as possible. I held him and whispered to him until she was finished.

 

“It’s okay now. Be strong. You can do this, I know it.”

 

Soon, it ended as quickly as it started.

 

“Finished! You’re good now Eren. Hey, can you remind me how old you are?” She said trying to look like she was just curious.

 

“I’m f-fifteen.” He replied to her and she smiled.

 

“Thanks! One last thing, I think it might be best not to move around too much now, so I recommend you stay the night here. Okay?”

 

Eren looked troubled. Like he was fighting an internal war of going home to be comfortable, and staying here to not die.

 

“A-are you s-sure I have to stay? I-I can’t go back with Levi?” He inquired still looking quite distressed. 

 

“Yes, If you move around any right now you’ll risk opening up again, and you’ve already lost so much blood that even I’m not sure how you’re not dead or in a coma.”

 

“O-Ok-kay.” He was hugging me tighter, like he was never going to let go.

 

“Hey Hanji, is it alright if I stay over to?” I ask knowing that Eren wouldn’t do too well in a new house by himself. Of course there was Hanji, but she was a little…

 

“Oh, I thought that was implied, but yeah! You’re welcome to stay here anytime!” She informs us with a big smile. She’s nearly finished packing up the rest of the medical stuff before she closes the case. “I’m going to go get you guys some water, okay? I’ll be right back.” Then she bounces out the door. 

 

Eren begins to shiver and I only now realize he has nothing to cover his top. And he’s using his arms and pulling up the blanket so I don’t see anything.

 

“C-c-can I-I get d-dressed n-now?” He asks while avoiding meeting my eyes and still trying to hide himself. 

 

“Yeah, but we can’t use that shirt seeing how it’s now partially soaked in blood.” I looked around and found my favorite hoodie and grabbed it. “Here.” I said handing it to him. When he takes it I walk over to the door but before I exit I turn to meet his gaze.

 

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be right outside this door to give you some privacy while you pull that on, okay?.”

He nods and a light hint of pink dusts across his cheeks as he looks down at the blankets hiding him from view. I turn and step outside closing the door behind me.

 

Hanji skips down the hallway over to me with a glass of water in her hands.

 

“Hey, Levi?”

 

“What?”

 

She had a thoughtful face on but it soon twisted into concern.

 

“Is Eren okay?”

 

“What?” I reply confused. Of course he’s not fine. He almost just died of blood loss after being beaten by some kid at school.

 

“I mean…” She lowered her voice just a little to be sure Eren wouldn’t hear. “I mean, I’ve seen all the cuts. They’re definitely done by himself, because some are fresh. Really fresh, like, today fresh.”

 

At this I could feel my eyes widen. Today fresh? Why? He doesn’t live with ‘them’ anymore. Why the hell didn’t I notice? 

 

“Levi, did you know about it?”

 

“No.” Was the only reply he could think of. How could he not notice him hurting so much to the point where he does that to himself. He seems fine at home. Sure not happy 24/7 but he was trying. Now when I think about how so many of his smiles seem fake. I didn’t think he would be doing this.

 

Hanji could obviously tell J was concerned or worried. By the expression she had on her face she seemed to understand to some point that I’m holding myself responsible. 

 

Hanji handed me the glass of water and looked into my eyes.

 

“Go talk to him.”

 

And with that, she bounced down the hallway and into her own room.

 

Bracing himself, he reached for the door handle. 

 

 

It was time to talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just watched the first five episodes of Tokyo Goul and I really like it. I think I might watch the rest because it's really interesting.
> 
> Do any of you guys watch it? And if you don't, what's your top five favorite anime?


	12. Talk

“Eren.” I call to him as I step into the room. He was under the covers lying down. He looks tired, but this was something I had to address with him.

“Yeah?” He replies quietly.

“I wanna talk to you about something important.” I go over and sit in the chair beside his bed. He sat up against the headboard looking at me with confusion.

“Okay…”

I don’t wanna scare him, or make him go into a panic attack, but there’s no way to put this really nicely. Fuck. Well, here I go.

“Eren, why are you cutting yourself?”

His eyes widened and he visibly started shaking.  
“I-I don’t, h-how d-do you kno-”

“Hanji saw the scars. I don’t want to hurt you and I’m not gonna get mad. I’m just asking why. Okay?”

He calmed down ever so slightly. His head was down, and he was avoiding eye contact. I just want to help him. I can’t help him if I don’t understand why he does this. It may hurt, but he needs to at least try and explain.

“I… I can’t tell you…”

“And why is that?”

“Because it’s dumb.” He replies still. Not. Looking. At. Me.

“Eren. It’s obviously not dumb if it’s something you’re doing this over. I may not look like it, but I care. I care so much and I want you to tell me what’s wrong so I can help you. There’s nothing I want more than to put a smile on your beautiful face. So please, please tell me what’s wrong.” I was now sitting on the bed next to him. I reached out and held his hand. “Please.” 

He looked up at me in surprise and then back down as a tear slipped out of his eye.

“I-it’s just... I feel so worthless. I’m just a used, broken toy. I can’t even understand why you care so much for someone like me. I cant even give you anything in return for being so kind to me. No one has ever cared. Even before I was sold, mother never cared. She was always working, and even then, she blew half our money on drugs. It just feels so… weird to have someone care. I’m not worth the trouble.” 

He was now crying. I pulled him into a hug, being careful of his wounds. I pulled back and cupped his chin to make sure he was looking at me. 

“Eren, you are not a toy. You are not used and broken. You’re a wonderful brat that I care about. I care about you because you’re an amazing person. It doesn’t matter that you cant give me anything in return. Just you being here in enough. And no matter what, you’re worth every little bit of trouble if it means I can see you everyday. I care so much. I can’t force a blade out of your hand because I know that wont help but I’m asking you. Please don’t do that anymore.”

After a minute or so he nodded. I pulled him back into a hug and we just stayed like that for a while. Sooner or later he mumbled something I couldn’t quite understand.

“What was that?”

“What… what time is it?”

I looked at my phone and read the time aloud. 

“Ten twenty five.” I replied. “You tired?”

“Yeah…”

“Okay. It’s about time we get some rest anyways.”  
We both laid down under the covers. His head on my chest still holding hands while my other plays with his hair.

“Goodnight Levi.” Be just barely whispered.

 

“Goodnight.”

 

I twirled his brown locks as I looked down at his cute sleeping face. I guess I really haven’t cared this much for anything in a while. I wonder why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo, yeah.  
> I'm really sorry it's so short and took so long. I've been having major writers block lately, even artists block. Plus all this goddamn schoolwork and shit. But hopefully when winter break starts I'll have sore time to write.  
> Well, I hope you enjoyed, see you later Chicken nuggers.


	13. Thank You

The next morning I woke up to the soft, even breathing of a certain brunette. I looked down at him and he seemed so… peaceful. 

I decided to let him sleep a little longer while my fingers combed through his hair.   
Soon he began so stir. He looked up at me through sleepy eyes and smiled.

“Good morning Levi.” He whispered through the crisp morning air, as if being too loud would shatter the peaceful atmosphere.

“Morning kid. Are you feeling any better?” I whispered back.

“Mhm.” He replied. “The bruises are still a bit sore, but all in all I feel fine.” He rests his chin on my chest while he looked up at me. He wrapped his arms around me and laid his head back on my chest. “Thank you Levi.” He said quieter.

“Your welcome brat.” I whispered back as my arms found their way around him, holding him close.

CLICK. FLASH.

What the fuck? I blinked my eyes a couple times confused while I tried to regain my vision. The fuck was that? I saw Hanji in the doorway holding a camera while staring at us with a smile.

“Well isn’t this a cute little visual I walked into.” She giggled and looked at Eren. So much for a peaceful morning. “You feelin’ any better hon?”

Eren looked back at her and nodded.

“Well then. I’m gonna make some eggs and bacon for breakfast if you guys want some.” She informed and then skipped down the hallway. Jeez that woman will be the death of me. Then I heard one of the most beautiful sounds being emitted from the boy next to me.

Eren giggled.

“Well she’s quite hyperactive.” He said with a grin plastered on his face. He’s so cute I could kiss him. Wait wha-

“Well do ya wanna go down and get some breakfast? ‘Cause I’m kinda hungry.”

Now it was my turn to grin. Eren being hungry was new. But it was good. Amazing, actually.

“Sure, let’s go.”

 

We made our way down the stairs and into the hallway when Eren stopped to look at a particular photo hung up on the wall.

“Wow Levi. You look so happy!” He observed.  
It was a picture of me and Hanji at the beach during the summer a couple months ago. We were both in bathing suits and we were smiling really big. That was the day we went there to celebrate seven years of being friends.

“Yeah. Now come on before the food gets cold.”

Walking into the kitchen, Hanji greeted us with a big shit-eating grin and told us to sit at the table. I sat and Eren placed himself right next to me in the hard wooden chairs. The smell of breakfast is intoxicating and almost too much to stand as Hanji sets plates of eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast in front of us. 

“Now Eren, you better eat up. You need to be a bit healthy especially after all that blood loss yesterday.” She advised.

“Yes ma’am!” He exclaimed in reply and began digging into his food. “This is really good. Thank you Hanji!”

“Oi brat. Don’t talk with your mouth full.” I scolded.

“Oops. Sorry.” He said with a smile and continued to devour his food, making me smile down at my own plate. 

The food really was delicious. Even Eren had almost finished. Which is just short of a miracle.

“So..” Hanji began, breaking the silence that was previously only filled with the clinking of our silverware and glass plates. “ What do you guys have planned for today?” She asked, eyeing us both.

“Uhm, I mean.. I don’t know? Levi?” He muttered to me.

“Well, I was going to bring him home to get some rest. Why?” I inquired.

“Well I kinda over bought some groceries and I wandered if you would take some home with you so I don’t have to waste them. You’re a really good cook, so I’m sure you could put them to good use.” She mused.

“Well sure. What do you have?” I asked. I needed to know what she’s sending me home to cook with.

“Well…” she begins, walking over to the fridge. “I bought an extra carton of eggs and too much flour. Along with parsley, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and a block of parmesan cheese…”

“Jesus woman. Is there anything you didn’t buy?”

She turns and glowers at me. "Yes. I didn’t buy any apples, which is what I originally meant to get.” She mumbled with a pout. “So could ya do something with ‘em or not?”

Oh yes. I already have a dinner all planned out in my head.

“Sure.” I say nonchalantly and get up to go grab the paper bags of groceries from shitty glasses. 

“Do you need any help Levi.” Eren inquires quietly from his seat at the table.

“No no honey. Levi and I’ve got this. Actually..” She scurries back over to the fridge and pulls out a water bottle. “What I need you to do for me is drink this. You need to stay hydrated after so much blood loss.” She explains to him. “Can ya do that for me?”

“Um, Y-yes ma’am” He obliges with her request. After that we pick up the groceries and head out to the car.  
When we get back Eren has taken a few sips from his water bottle. He’s got my favorite Hoodie on him, which is a little baggy on his small frame, but he looks kinda cute.

“Eren, are you ready to go?”

He looks up at me with a small smile and nods. 

“Yeah.”

 

When we’re back in our house, looking at the clock it’s about eleven thirty.

“Hey Eren, do you think you can stomach some lunch?” I inquire hopefully.

A tiny frown falls onto his face as he shakes his head.  
“No, I’m really full from what Hanji made for breakfast… sorry.”

I give him a reassuring look.

“It’s alright. I don’t want you to push it and end up getting sick again.”

He gives a small nod and goes to sit on the couch.  
“Is there anything you want to do today? It’s nice outside, and we have a lot of time.”

He looks deep in thought before finally replying.

“Um…Well… I-Is there a park around here? If so… can we go?”

I almost smile. Usually he just wants to stay inside without going places.

“Yeah, though it’s kind of deserted. No one even goes there anymore.”

He smiles.

“That’s even better.”

 

(Time skip brought to you by the need to get the fuckin story to start moving. Lol)

 

We take a silent walk to the park. Not the weird awkward kind of silence, but more of a comfortable one.

As we near the park, I can see him getting visibly happier.

“You alright there?”

“Yeah.” He mumbles happily. “It’s just been a while since I’ve been to one. They’re my favorite places to be. It’s really calming if there are no little children too.”  
We reach the entrance of the old-ish park. He’s bubbling with a.. happy sort of calm. He hesitates to walk past the Metal gate, but once he does, it’s like all the tension weighing on his shoulders has just flown away.

His eyes hold the wonder of a child as he gazes at the Jungle gym. Multiple platforms of varying heights of rusting metal. Monkey bars and bridges connecting them to each other and to towers. It’s huge and almost looks like a castle.

I sit on a nearby bench as he starts to wonder and explore the rusting castle, a curious look playing on his face. He climbs the latter to the top of the tallest tower and looks all around the park.

“Levi!” He yells down to me trying to get the attention that he doesn’t know I already have focused on him.  
I raise an eyebrow at him to show him that I’m listening.

“You gotta come up here! The view is awesome!”  
He yells down to me with a grin. 

“Alright.”

I’m sure he hears me when he stops leaning over the railing and starts rocking and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

I walk over and begin climbing up the 35 foot latter. As I neared the top he grew visibly more exited. 

When I finally get to the top he takes my hand and pulls me up, bringing me to the edge.

 

It’s beautiful.

 

There was a cliff overlooking a forest of tall evergreen trees. Everything illuminated by the afternoon sun. And far, far off, if you really look for it, you can see the ocean poking out over the rolling hills. The light blue sky-ocean mix a mystic contrast with the various shades and pigments of deep greens. The rays cast down on the scene making sharp shadows making the forest floor seem almost impossible to reach.

 

“T-this is…this is… holy fuck.”

 

And he giggled, emitting that beautiful almost musical sound.

“Yeah.” He whispered. “I wish I was a fox. I could just live in there without a single care in the world.”  
He then widened his eyes as something caught his attention.

“Levi look!” He exclaimed while pointing down. I followed his finger and saw an old swing set sitting near the edge of the cliff. “Can we go swing?”  
I stared at the childish wonder in his eyes with amusement.

“Sure.”

 

After making our way down and over to the swings, he sat down on one and slowly used his feet to push him back and forth a little, as if testing it.

I glare down at the remaining seat being held up by rusty chains with almost a look of disgust. How unsanitary. But never the less, I took my seat and too began to test it.

Slowly, Eren picked up more of a pace and was swinging with joy. I swayed back and forth, but not by too much.

I observed how he had such a strange way of pumping back and forth. It was like he used more of his arms than his legs, gripping onto the chains and pulling them in slightly different directions. His legs only moved to match the pattern of his hands as he swung and stared out over the forest in front of us.

Noticing the sky had changed colors, I check the time on my phone. 

“Jesus fuck it’s already five o’clock.” 

His motions falter as he comes to a graceful stop beside me.

“Well damn.”

I stand up from the swing and he follows suit and I begin to walk towards the exit.

“Well let’s get back home. I have some plans for us.”  
His face contorts into slight curiosity as he only gives a small nod as an answer.

 

Back at the apartment, we toe off our shoes and I walk to the kitchen pulling out various ingredients including the ones from Hanji.

“Hey Eren, wanna help me cook dinner?”

He seems surprised and excited at my question as he quickly nods his head and makes his way over to me.

“Yes please!”

I grab flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt. He watches attentively as I get out a bowl, measuring out some flour, and pouring it inside. I added some an egg.  
"Now Eren, what I need you to do is wash your hands and I need you to hand mix this together, okay?"

“Yep!” He replies and makes his was over to the counter.

I start getting out some vegetables and pans to start some pasta sauce. Looking back I see a very focused brunette looking down at his hands as he worked on mixing the dough.

After adding more ingredients to the sauce I go move to where the teen works and pour just a tiny bit of olive oil into the mix. He sends a questioning glance but that only lasts a second as he goes back to his work.

I get out the cutting board and rub some flour on it and a knife and tell him to bring over the bowl of dough.

“Thank you.” I say quietly as I take the blob of squish from him and plop it onto the cutting board. I begin to flatten it out a bit and once I deemed it ready, I began showing the tall brat how to cut the dough.

“Alright, now watch this.” I slice a thin strip off of the blob and look back at him. “Can you slice this up?”

He takes a second as if actually debating himself on if he can do the simple task before giving a hesitant nod.  
“I-I’ll try.”

He nervously slices a few strips off and soon starts to do it with more of a rhythm. I start to take the sauce off the stove and ready some stuff to cook the pasta noodles with. As soon as he finishes his task he shouts triumphantly letting me know he’s completed the objective.

“Done!”

I almost chuckle at how proud he seems of his strips of raw dough. 

“Okay then. Head to the bathroom and wash up. I should have this finished by the time you’re done. Alright?”

“Okay.” He replies quickly and scurries off to the bathroom.

By the time he gets out, I have all the cooked pasta plated with sauce covering the top and placed at the dinner table with some glasses of water.

“Wow Levi! This looks amazing!” He takes a cute little sniff “And this smells delicious!” he added.

“Well come dig in, it won’t eat itself, that much I know.” I reply in which he giggles.

“Okay.”

He took the first bite as an adorable little moan escaped his mouth.

“Levi, this is the best meal I’ve ever had! Where’d you learn to cook like this?” He exclaimed.

“Don’t thank me, you cooked it too.” I replied. His cheeks grew a little red at this.

“Yeah, but I just mixed some stuff and sliced it up. You did all the real work…” He mumbled, twirling some more pasta around on his fork.

“Not true. In fact, you sliced the noodles in a thin yet strong way that I never would have been able to make work. Thank you.”

At this his cheeks grew even more red as he stared at me. A small smile then grew on his face as he looked back down to his plate and whispered.

 

“Thank you.”

 

After dinner, Eren curls up on the couch watching How It’s Made on the TV while I clean up a bit in the kitchen. I go over to the living room seeing that he’s snuggled up inside my favorite hoodie while he watches the show.

I sit on the couch next to him with about five inches of space in between us.

“Like my hoodie?” I quietly question him with a small smirk. He cuddles into the oversized thing even more with a small blush across his face.

“Yeah.” He whispers. 

“You can keep it if you want.”

At this offer his eyes meet mine as his face lights up and the blush dancing across his face grew darker. “R-Really?” He said as if I just gave him a ticket to the moon.

“Yeah.” I reply simply, smiling just a tiny bit.  
His eyes are happy as he sends me a soft smile. 

“Thank you.”

In the few hours of watching this brain pulling show, we somehow ended up with Eren’s face pressed against my chest and his arms around my waist and my arms were wrapped around him holding him protectively as his legs were over my lap and my cheek resting on his head.

The brunette was starting to nod off to sleep so I decided it was time to turn in for the night.

“Come on, let’s go to bed.” I muttered to him.

“But I’m so comfy…” He replied half asleep.

“Alright then.” I carefully picked him up bridal style and started carrying him to the other room. He snuggled into my chest as his grip around me tightened ever so slightly.

Once in the bed I adjusted both of us so we would be comfortable. His head on my chest and our arms around each other.

 

“Levi?” He whispered through the darkness.

 

“Hm?” I replied quietly to show him I was listening.  
“Thank you. For everything. You truly are my favorite person.” He breathed and snuggled even more into me as I felt my face heat up.

 

 

“Don’t mention it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for not updating in forever, I got a lotta shit to do.  
> Also, sorry for any inaccuracy in the cooking area of this chapter, I don't cook, I just wanted a cute little scene that I thought of while shopping in the speggetti section of wallmart. lol. Hope you enjoyed!!


	14. Rainy Day

Early morning light flooded my eyes as they flutter open to meet the soft face of a certain raven.  _His features are so much softer when he's asleep._ Warmth enveloped me as I was held tightly by a strong pair of arms. Figuring I would let him sleep, seeming how  he's always up before me, I snuggle back down into his chest. The steady sound of his heartbeat and the deep rhythmic breathing was calming to focus on.

Soon, soft patters sounded from the window and I pulled my head up to stare out the glass pane. Tiny glimmering droplets fell from the vast, grey-blue sky in beautiful random patterns.  _Grey-blue like Levi's eyes._  I thought as my gaze drifted back to the strong man. Eyelids heavy again, I laid my head down against his chest once more and let the ambient music lull me to sleep once again.

 

 

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

 

I woke up again at what I assume was a few hours after the first. I was snuggled into Levi's chest as he sat up a bit focused on reading a book.

 

_And wearing glasses._

 

I gazed up at him for a while seeming how he didn't appear to notice I had awoken, but eventually, he must have felt my eyes on him. The raven looked down from his book and his face tinted a shade of red as he met my eyes for a second before fumbling to remove his glasses and set them aside on the nightstand. My face stretched into a grin as he finally met my eyes again trying to contort his face back into his usual stoic expression.

 

"Well good morning to you to."

 

"Morning brat. Want some breakfast?" He inquired, avoiding the topic of the black frames that sat on top of the nightstand.

 

"Hmm... not quite yet. I'm still really comfy and not that hungry at the moment." The older man hummed in approval and glanced over at the wall. "Sooo... watcha reading?"

 

He didn't return my stare as he replied. "Maximum Ride."

 

"Hmm..." I answered back with a smirk "Is it good?"

 

He continued to stare at the wall. "Yes, I've already read the entire series actually. It's my favorite book."

 

At that I perked up. Curious as to what kind of things the mysterious man liked to read. "Wanna tell me what it's about? I'm kinda interested."

 

At that he looked back at me with shock, his eyes almost lighting up. "Really? Are you sure? It might get boring if I try to explain it..."

 

I lightly shook my head with a small smile in reply. "Yes I''m sure. Now c'mon I wanna know what it's about."

 

And so that's how we wasted away the morning, with Levi retelling detailed and wonderful stories about the adventures of Maximum Ride and her flock.

 

 

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

As it poured outside, we sat in the window together with me leaning in his shoulder and his arm around me as we watched the rain patter down onto the streets below us.  _This is so beautiful. I've missed this so much. I never thought I'd be this happy to see rain but I miss being able to sit and watch the water sprinkle sown in little droplets._

 

I snuggled into the raven a little more and felt his grip around me tighten by a fraction. Letting out a content sigh, I gaze up at Levi's face as he observed the scene outside the glass pane.  _How did I get so lucky to meet him. He's so nice to me and careful of what I don't like and cares about me... god it's been so long since anybody actually cared... He's such a beautiful man with a personality of gold just sitting right next to me._ I was wearing the oversize, black hoodie he gave me and it felt so comfortable. I took in a deep breath of his lavender and pine scent and felt myself relax against him a little more. My eyelids grew heavy as I listened to his steady, deep breaths that pulled me into a deep sleep.

 

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

I had awoken to Levi yet again, with his glasses on and his nose in a book as he had one of his arms placed around my shoulders.

 

"You look cute in your glasses." I pointed out, seeming to startle the man into jumping slightly and almost dropping his book. I giggled at his reaction and changed the subject. "Umm... What time is it?"

 

He reached over to the nightstand to set down his book and grab his phone, checking the clock. 'About seven. I should start dinner and after that, we could go to bed early, seeing as it's already dark outside." He offered. Turning and looking out the window, it was indeed almost completely nighttime with the soft glow of street and porch lights lighting up the town.

 

"Mmk" I replied turning back to him, using my knuckle to rub away any excess sleepiness from my eyes.

 

"That sounds really good."

 

 

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

 

After a nice diner of rice and kielbasa, we settled down under the covers of the spare bedroom sleepy and ready for a good rest. He laid down and I snuggled up to him laying on his chest with my arms wrapped around his waist as his held me protectively him.

 

"Ya know, I meant it when I said you looked cute in your glasses earlier. I didn't know you wore them."

 

"Well I usually don't unless I'm reading. Helps me not get headaches."

 

"Hmm..." I replied. "Well you're gonna have to let me take a picture of you in them sometime."

 

"Absolutely not." He responded. 

 

"Why not though...?"

 

I felt him shift subtly before he answered. 

 

"They make me look weird. I don't like how I look in the first place let alone with  _those_ things on.

 

At this I felt my heart ache a little.  _He doesn't think he looks good? Who the fuck does he think he's kidding, he's fucking angelic!_ I lifted my face up to look at him in the eyes. "What are you talking about? You look beautiful, and if anything those glasses make you look ten times sharper. I don't know why you don't think you look good, but I'm telling you now, you're wrong. You're beautiful in every way inside and out, so don't doubt it, okay?" I stated to him.

 

His face grew a deep red as he let out a little "Okay." as a reply. I smiled at him and snuggled back into his chest.

 

"Mm. Goodnight Levi. I hope you have dreams as sweet and beautiful as you are." I whispered to him through the dark and closed my eyes.

 

"Same to you, kid."

 

At that, I felt him place a small kiss at the top of my head as I drifted off into beautiful dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you all enjoyed that. I kinda just wanted a sweet little fluffy chapter for this one. I have a laptop now so I'm thinking of going back through and rewriting some stuff now that I can use italics and bold and shit like that. So hopefully you all enjoyed that, sorry for my chapters being so far apart. I have plot ideas and shit like that all planned out in my head, but it's really hard to put all that crap into words. well, have a good day/weekend/week/month/year. i really have no idea. have a good UntillUpdatedAgain. :)


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